The Best Days of our Lives
by sola gratia
Summary: FINALLY COMPLETE! This is the tale of Louis, Twitty, Tawny and Tom at the end of their high school careers. There's a little something in this for everyone. I hope you all enjoy it. The grand finale with Chapter 28 is here. Thank you all for reading.
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1  
  
It was just another typical day at the Stevens home. It was 7:00 a.m. and it was time for everyone to start the day. Everyone, that is, except for Louis. As usual, he was snoring away in his bed. Steve Stevens, the head of the household was all suited up ready for another day at the law firm. Eileen Stevens was all set for another day at the state capital. Sister Ren was away at college at Stanford University and big brother Donnie had long left home for college and hoping to graduate in a month. He was playing football and baseball at UCLA (he ended up losing his scholarship to Texas State Univeristy). Louis was seventeen years old, a senior in high school, and sleeping away.  
  
"LOUIS!!" Steve screamed form the bottom of the stairs and continued screaming as he made his way up them. "Louis!!" he bellowed while opening the door.  
  
Louis had now pried one eye open. "What is it, Dad?"  
  
"Lou, you're just sleeping away while the rest of the world is getting ready for another day!"  
  
"Loosen up, Pop. School doesn't start for another 20 minutes." Steve gave him a look for that "Pop" comment. "I mean, 'Father'," Louis corrected. So, for yet another day, what seemed to be the one millionth for Louis, he was getting up for another day at James K. Polk High school. Louis pulled on some khaki short pants, a white t-shirt with his trademark Hawaiian shirt over it. Some things just don't change. He made his way to the driveway where his prized car was parked: a 1987 blue Chevy Nova. It was a classic 1980's car: bad sparkplugs, oil needed to be changed and the car would always cough whenever it was turned on or off. Louis thought it was perfect.  
  
So, Louis arrived at the school 10 minutes late, as usual. He pulled into his parking spot, the car coughed, Louis kicked it, smoke rose from the hood and he went running into the building. But he could not get very far. "Mr. STevens!" a familiar voice called. Oh boy, Louis thought. It was none other than Mr. Wexler. Two years earlier, when Louis was a sophomore at Polk High, Wexler left Lawrence Jumnior High to take the vacant job at the high school. "Mr. Stevens, are you late once again. What do you have to say for yourself??"  
  
Louis looked all around him quickly hoping a good excuse would come to mind. "Well, Mr. Wexler, it's like this . . . I waas on my way but a huge banana truck turned over on Main Street and the road blocked for at least half an hour just with the monkeys, and then firemen showed up with the national guard and . . ."  
  
Wexler just looked around in discontent with another one of Louis Stevens' half-baked, pathetic excuses. "Off to class, Stevens."  
  
"Thank you, sir." Louis then dashed through the hallways towards the stairs and slid down the railing. He got to the bottom and stumbled while trying to get to his classroom. He was out of breath when he reached the door and the teacher stopped. "Louis, you're late," the teacher Ms. Parker said. Louis nodded and quietly got to his seat in the back next to best bud Alan Twitty.  
  
Twitty said, "Lou, man, you're late again."  
  
"Yeah, I kinda figured that out."  
  
"What's goin' on?" his worldly pal asked.  
  
"I'll tell ya later. But it's big I tell ya, big!"  
  
So Louis and Twitty sat through and English lecture and waited for the long anticipated bell to ring. At 8:30 it rang and Louis buzzed out of that room leaving a trail of dust behind him. Twitty caught up with him and said, "OK, man, what is it? What's so big?"  
  
"I can't tell ya. Here she comes."  
  
The "she" that Louis was referring to was a blonde haired girl that Louis was currently falling for. Her name was Amanda. She was tall, thin, had beautiful blue eyes, but was dumb as a tack. Twitty rolled his eyes and shook his head. Like Charlie Brown, he mumbled "Good Grief" to himself. As Louis was telling his latest joke to Amanda, Louis' friend and on-again-off-again sweetheart Tawny Dean walked by. She shook her head in disgust and started talking to Twitty. "What Romeo doing now?"  
  
"He's trying to impress that ditzy girl over there."  
  
"I wish he knew just how stupid he looks."  
  
"Well, he really thinks she's pretty, I guess. I mean, I haven't seen him try to impress a girl like that since . . . oops."  
  
"It's OK, Twitty, it's over with, for now at least."  
  
For almost four years Louis and Tawny had been in an inconsistent relationship. They'd date for a little while and break up. And then they'd get back together. And then Louis would do something stupid. And then they'd break up again. But they always remained friends. Louis still like Tawny a lot, but like any other 17-year-old guy, he was awe-struck by any and every girl that he came in contact with.  
  
Tawny shook her head and said, "Later, Twitty." 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Finally, the day ended. Louis met up with Twitty in the parking lot. "Hey, man," Twitty said.

"Sup."

"Hey, Lou, what was the big thing you were trying to tell me earlier?"

"Oh yeah. Check this out," Louis said as he pulled out a devious looking remote control.

"Uh oh. What's gonna happen, Louis?"

Louis grinned his mischievous grin and pressed the magic red button. Some 50 yards away a make-shift catapault let go a banana cream pie that made a direct hit on . . . Tom Gribalski, who else? Tom was covered in cream and banana wedges. He noticed Louis cackling away in the distance. Tom marched over towards Louis and Twitty and said, "Louis, I must say that I am offended at this attempt at jocularity."

"Whacha gona do, Tom?" Louis directed.

Tom shrugged his shoulders, ran his finger across his cheek and tasted the cream. "It's actually quite tasty. Another very clever antic, Louis."

"Well, thanks, Tom. Craftsmen like me always enjoy hearing that their work is appreciated." But as this dialogue between Louis and Tom continued, Tawny appeared, almost out of nowhere. She observed the mess that was dripping off Mr. Gribalski and was intrigued.

"Tom! What happened to you?"

"It appears that I have once again been on the receiving end of one of Louis' very clever farces."

Tawny rolled h er eyes and said, "I'll see you later, guys."

Tawny usually got a real kick out of Louis' shenanigans, but she seemed a bit upset. Louis couldn't figure it out. Tom was absolutely covered and Louis thought he was simply brilliant. What could Tawny have been upset over? But Louis reminded himself that every once in awhile she would get that way. There were those days when Louis' immaturity would get to her and she'd get that "Oh, grow up" look on her pale, yet lovely face. But Louis quickly got over the problem: He saw yet another pretty young face in the parking lot. No, Louis had struck out with Amanda earlier that day. This was Tanya. Ohhh Tanya. She was a brunette and in the French club. That didn't bode too well for Louis because all the French he knew was "Oo Lala." Apparently he thought that would be enough to woo Tanya. But while Louis was trying to show off for her, Tawny was standing at the far end of the lot and shook her head. What a loser, I better get to the theatre, Tawny thought. It was the night before the big performance.

Meanwhile, across the parking lot Louis was striking out with Tanya. Louis was telling every joke he could think of to get her to laugh. Eventually Tanya was able to figure out that Louis was trying to be funny and by the end of the conversation she let out a pitty smile. Maybe he'll go away if I just smile, the girl thought. Then Louis took the hint and headed back towards his car where Twitty was still standing with Tom beside him. "Struck out, huh?" Twitty asked.

"Nah, I could have her, but she's not for the Big L, if ya know what I mean." Twitty stared at Louis for a second. Louis realized that his self-appointed nickname really bombed, "OK, so I'll try to find a better name. I just wanna leave a mark on this school before I leave, you know?"

Twitty looked over at the school building and pointed, "But what about the time you spray painted on the outside wall of the school? You remember, 'Wexler eats worms.'"

Louis grinned and said, "Heh, they never proved that was me!" Come on, Twitty, let's go home."

"Hey, Louis, are we going to the play tomorrow night?"

Louis was befuddled, "What play?"

"You know, the school play. The one where Tawny has the lead female role: 'The Long Walk Home.' Remember Tawny, Lou?"

Louis sensed Twitty's sarcasm. "Yeah, yeah. She's the girl, right?" They both cracked a smile. "Yeah, we're going. It's just that prom is coming up in a month and I don't have a date. I'm just scouting it out. I'm just seeing who's out there. I mean, Tawny and I haven't really been together for awhile. We were always better as friends."

Twitty sighed and said, "Yeah, I see your point." They slammed the car door shut. "Let's get some tunes going." So, the two buddies rolled their windows down, sped away and played music from their favorite band: "The Rotten Turn-ups." It was music that made no sense, had no musical organization, no decipherable lyrics, so naturally they loved them.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was the night of the big show. It was the biggest item for the drama department: the spring play. Louis and Twitty took their comfortable seats from the balcony of the school auditorium. Twitty was at the event because Louis was there. Louis was there to check out the girls, and see Tawny too. Unfortunately, Louis was not much on drama because halfway through the first act he was snoring. Twitty had to nudge him when it was intermission. "Hey, Lou, wake up . . . Lou!!"

Louis was slumped in his seat, was drooling, and of course, snoring. "Wha? Yeah, oh! Bravo! Magnifico!! Encore!"

"Relax, Louis, it's only intermission."

Louis stumbled to his senses, "Of course. I knew it was the whole time." Louis let out a big yawn and tried to stay focused and awake.

After the intermission and after the play finished, Louis and Twitty ran out to the lobby in order to see the cast lined up. Louis made his way through the line and tried to make small talk with the kids who were in the play even though he paid no attention to the play at all. He went about the line and finally made it to the end where the two leads were standing and still smiling: Tawny standing alongside her male counterpart Corey Richmond. Corey had a tall, strong build. He had auburn hair and blue eyes. He had a few subtle freckles on his cheeks, had a big wide smile, and had biceps that could crush Louis in a matter of seconds. "How ya doin', Core? Ow! Ow!! Whoa, buddy. Easy on the hand there," Louis welped as Corey crushed Louis' hand.

"Louis! You made it to the show!" Tawny exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, I thought I might make a little cameo appearance, take some time out to see my adoring fans." But then Louis looked around to see that nobody had really wanted to talk to him. In fact, he could swear that he heard crickets in the background! "Yeah, well, anyway. Nice job, Tawn. It was great."

Tawny graciously smiled and Louis was off. Twitty was a little behind and caught up. He said hello to Tawny and Corey and was off, "Hey, Louis! Where'ya going? You took off pretty quick."

"Oh nothing, Twitty. Hey, you wanna see a movie?"

"Um, sure, man. Whatever."

Slowly but surely the weekend came and went and three productions of "The Long Walk Home" came and went. Louis was out most of the weekend partying with friends, hanging with Twitty like always, and watching movies. It was just another weekend for ol' Louis Stevens. He was walking out of the theater Sunday afternoon with one huge popcorn bucket in each hand and walking under a movie poster that read, "Attack of the Incontinent Squids from Neptune IV." Meanwhile, at that very moment across town at the high school auditorium, Tawny and Corey were helping break down the set after the final performance of "The Long Walk Home." All those hours working together during rehearsals and performances, Tawny and Corey had acquired a bit of chemistry, which was healthy for the play.

While tearing down a wall of the set, Corey started up a conversation with Tawny, and he said, "Gee, it won't be quite the same."  
"What do you mean?" Tawny wondered.

"Well, we've worked on this play for months and months and all of a sudden it's over."

"Yeah, I know."

"Say, Tawny, there's something I've been wanting to ask you for some time now."

"What is it, Corey?"

Corey, staring straight into Tawny's eyes with his big blue eyes and drawing himself closer to her said, "You know, since we've been doing this play, I feel like I've grown to be close with you." He paused to let the words sink into Tawny's mind. "I guess what I'm saying is . . . that I've grown to really like you. And since prom is in a month, I was wondering if you would like to go with me?"

Tawny didn't answer. She was a bit startled to say the least. She had been working with him for awhile and yes, they had grown together a little bit, but that happens a lot between two actors. Tawny had a chill run down her spine and took a deep breath. "Um, Corey, I don't really know how to say this. It's not that I don't think you're a great guy or anything. And I don't even know if I want to go." The hopeful smile on Corey's face faded away. "I'm sorry, but I can't go to prom with you."

Corey took a deep sigh and said, "OK," and they went back to tearing down the set.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

Monday morning Louis paraded down the hall towards his locker. He eyed a few pretty girls in the hallway and tried making conversation with a few. One of which was the tall, blonde-haired Becky Fletcher, a cheerleader. Louis made his index finger and thumb into a pistol and did the annoying point with it and wink that girls never like. Becky turned her lip and eyebrow up and said, "Oh please" in disgust.

Louis put his hand down and continued strutting down the hall like he was a million bucks. He made it all the way down the hallway winking and pointing at all the pretty girls. He even passed by Tawny who was walking to a classroom. Unlike all the other girls, Louis stopped, smiled and just said hi. Tawny made a half-smile and they continued on their ways. Once Louis was gone, Tawny rolled eyes. Oh brother, what a show, she thought while thinking about how stupid Louis had been acting. He's just about getting the ladies and pulling the same stupid pranks, she thought, nothing ever changes.

During the course of this day, Tawny got asked by someone else to go to the prom. Wow. She couldn't believe it. It's not as though Tawny was not popular. She was well-known throughout the school for her dramatic abilities and peace marches. Perhaps she was more known as Louis Stevens's occasional girlfriend. She was the lady friend of the biggest prankster in school. But this guy was Rick Carter, linebacker on the football team. Big guy, 6 feet 4 inches tall. Louis would be lost in this guy's shadow. It came about innocently enough. "Hi, Tawny" Rick said.

"Oh, um, hi there."

"It's Rick, from the football team."

"Yeah, I know you." There was a long pause. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Well, as you know, prom season is coming up and I was just wondering if you had a date?"

Tawny bit her lower lip, looking at the floor and said, "Um, no I don't."

Rick had a slow smile grow on his face. "Well, then, would you like to go to the prom with me?"

Tawny was a bit surprised to have a football player asking her to the prom. She didn't quite know what to say. Then she had this image of Louis parading down the halls like he was Mr. Stud. But for some reason she looked up and said, "I'm sorry. I don't think so." Rick couldn't believe it, said he was sorry for bothering her and left. Tawny felt pretty bad about having to say no to the guy. Then she thought, oh he's probably just like all the other football players. Probably just looking for some action after prom. Glad I turned him down, she thought. Then Tawny looked up to see Louis, kicking and screaming, being picked up by several large guys and being stuffed in a large trash can. She wondered, OK, what did he do _now_? Instead of prying, Tawny just decided to move on to class and not worry about it. Although it was hard not to because Louis's screaming could be heard for quite a distance. Tawny grinned, what a loser, she thought.

Another week passed by with the same chain of events. Louis was either trying to catch the girls' eye or he was getting put into detention. Tawny, going about her usual routine, was asked to prom by another two guys. Again, for some unknown reason she turned them both down. There was nothing really wrong with these guys, but she didn't want to go to the big event with them. Tawny had eventually convinced herself that she was just waiting for Louis to come to his senses and ask her instead of messing around with the ditzes and the tramps and the trash.

Today was different. When she got to school in the morning, she saw Louis standing by her locker. "Hi, Louis."

"Oh, hey, Tawn. What's up?"

"Not much. What are you doing?"

"Just waiting."

"For what, may I ask?"

"This!" Louis exclaimed as he darted off when he saw the girl he was looking for. This one was a real winner. Janette Reigler was this one's name. She was a tall, blonde, with a very low-cut dress, gawdy nail polish and an IQ of 12, at the highest. Tawny had seen enough. She walked off, but was determined not to act hastily. Then she passed by Corey from the play.

"Hi, Corey."

Needless to say, Corey was pleasantly surprised to find Tawny talking to him again. "Hi. What's up?"

"Not much." Then they stood in silence for a few moments. "Say, I remember you asked me to prom a little while ago." Corey nodded. "Well, I was just wondering if you had found a date yet."

Corey still did not quite know how to react to this. He shook his head. He had actually thought about asking another couple girls but didn't. He really wanted Tawny and wanted to get her to go with him. In response to the question Tawny asked he said, "No."

Tawny's face got a spark and she said, "How would you feel if I took back my initial refusal?" Tawny was biting her lip in anticipation.

Corey grinned and said sure.

Meanwhile, back where Louis was flirting . . . "You know, it's only about three weeks until the prom, sweetheart, and the L-Train doesn't exactly have a passenger yet, and the L-Train was wondering if you'd like to come for the ride?" The ditz Janette giggled loudly and obnoxiously and uncontrollably and snorting. After several seconds of this, Louis was beginning to wonder what was so funny. Of course, it was him, he thought. Who was funnier than the great Louis Stevens? But then Louis realized that maybe she wasn't laughing at Louis's clever quip. He felt heavy breathing on the top of his head. Louis closed his eyes in anguish and thought, oh no, what have I done? Louis slowly turned around to see not just a football player, but the captain of the team itself standing over him. "Uh oh."

"Big uh-oh, Shrimp." Louis was then picked up in one hand by Dirk Martin and shoved against the lockers. "This here is my girl. You been flirting with her and I hate that. You're nothing but a little wimp. All you do is crack stupid jokes and pull even stupider pranks. I think it's time that you were taught a lesson, runt!"

Louis was freaking out by this point and murmured, "Mr. Big football player man, I should warn you that my body is very brittle and my bones break real easy. I just want you to know because I'd hate to have insurance come into all this, you know?"

"No, I don't know." And before Louis knew it, he was being hurled down the hallway as he screamed like a girl.

Louis landed in a pile on the floor and said to himself, "This is just not my day."

Then Twitty walked by and lent a helping hand. "Hey, Louis, what happened? Oh wait, I think I can figure this out. You were going after a girl that already has a boyfriend that is a lot stronger than you. Am I right?" Louis nodded. "I mean, Lou, why are you wasting your time on all these girls? What about Tawny?"

"What about her?"

Twitty rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Lou, you're my best friend, but sometimes you just can't get it."

Louis thought for a moment. Then his face lit up, "Oh, you mean I should ask Tawny to the prom?" Twitty nodded. "Dude, you're such a genius! Tawny'll go with me! I mean, yeah, we've broken up a few times and all, but hey, this is perfect." Twitty grinned thinking that he had just solved all the problems.

Louis dashed through the hall searching for Tawny. He looked up and down each one until he found her. Ah! There she was. Hmm, she's standing next to the guy from the play, Louis thought to himself, guess they're friends and all. "Hey, Tawny," Louis said with a big, goofy smile.

"Hi, Louis. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm just fine. Say, I was just wondering . . ." Louis began but was cut off.

"Oh, Louis, did you hear? Corey and I are going to the prom together! Isn't that great!" Tawny was slightly less excited inside than on the outside. Her main intent was to make Louis jealous. After all, Louis had blown chance after chance with her. Tawny then let Louis say what he came to say. "Oh, Louis, what were you going to say?"

Louis struggled for the right words to say because he was still in shock. "Um, I was just gonna say . . . uh, congratulations." Louis's big, goofy smile was long gone and he slowly dragged his feet to class.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

Louis was devastated, simply devastated. He had really blown it this time. He had blown it in junior high. He had blown it during their junior year of high school with that incident involving himself, some geese, and the girls' locker room. (Don't ask, it's a long and messy story). He knew that Tawny might still like him. Louis knew that he was acting according to his selfish human nature. He was only going after those girls to get attention and feel like he was somebody besides class goofball Louis Stevens. This plan had really backfired on Louis. Now what?

Louis managed to survive the remainder of the day without killing himself. At the end of the last period of the day Louis saw Twitty and Tom at their lockers. "Hello, Louis," Tom greeted.

"Hey, Tom."

"What's this? No clever jest, Mr. Stevens? No new crafty or elaborate gadget to show us? No cream-filled pie to splash in my face?" Tom rambled.

Louis was not in the mood for jokes. "What's up, man?" Twitty asked.

Louis struggled to produce an answer. It was a little hard for him to explain to his friends that he had blown his chance with the girl of his dreams because he was busy trying to make a new name for himself in his last 6 weeks of high school. Louis finally summoned the strength, "Well, you see, guys, I was gonna ask Tawny," Louis began. "And then I thought to myself, I've been chasing her for a few years now and I think it's time to take a little break, you know? There's still plenty of girls here that can't wait to hop on the Louismobile."

Twitty and Tom didn't believe it for a minute. Louis was acting too sad to have recently decided not to ask Tawny for a date. "OK, Mr. Big Shot. What really happened?" Twitty asked.

Louis took a quick breath and said, "She's already got a date, OK? Apparently this pretty boy from the play, Chuck, or whatever his name is just asked her."

Tom was quick to point out, "Oh, Louis, his name is Corey. His mother and Doris often quilt together. Quite a nice boy I must say . . ."

Louis snapped, "Tom! This is not the time to be talking about those nice boys you quilt with! This is serious! The prom is in 3 weeks and I don't have a date because I blew it! I blew it!"

Tom's eyes lit up. "Say, my cousin Henrietta does not have a date."

Louis turned his eyebrow up. "Your cousin Henrietta? The one in band with the huge braces with fig newton crumbs always stuck in them?! That cousin?!! Tom, you can't be serious!"

"She's a very nice girl, Louis. I think it's worth a shot . . ."

"Tom! For the last time, NO!!"

Twitty had heard enough about the subject. "Hey, guys, lets just settle down. Anyway, I gotta take off. The band is having practice in a little bit. I'll see you guys later. Try to cool off, Lou. Later."

Louis waved goodbye to Twitty and waited until he was out of earshot. He grabbed Tom by the shirt and pulled him closer and spoke softly, "OK, Tom, are you serious? Would your cousin really go with me?" So the truth came out. Louis was just putting on another show. He needed a date. Badly. Tom motioned down the hall and said that his cousin could be found in the band room. With that news, Louis was off and running.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

Upon Louis' discovery of the band room, a room he had often avoided and made fun of, Louis found the only person that could have been Tom's cousin. She was a girl wearing a tacky blue plaid shirt, had hair in pigtails, had a couple "love handles" and was sporting enormous bifocals, and was caught entirely off-guard when Louis tapped her shoulder and interrupted her flute playing. The girl shrieked, "What?!"

Louis, a little startled, began with, "Whoa, there, Henrietta. Take it easy there, it's just me, Louis. You know, your cousin's friend."

The girl, still a little startled and a little shy, looked at the ground and said, "Oh, yes, Louis. I know you. I know who you are."

"Well, I know I have not really talked to you very much..."

"Well, I _am_ just a sophomore, Louis."

"Oh, um, ok. That's fine. Well, you see, Henrietta, I was just talking to your cousin Tom and we got to talking about the prom and I had this wild idea. Just think about it for a second. Take a few minutes if you need to. But I was thinking that since the prom is coming up in just a couple of weeks, and I didn't have a date, so I thought I might just ask the cousin of my dear friend, Tom..."

Henrietta was not exactly the most popular girl in the school and being asked to the prom was a very big deal for her. She set her flute down and began to fan herself off with her hands. "OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh!! A boy just asked me to go to the prom with him! Oh my gosh! Louis Stevens asked me to go to the prom with him!! I can't believe it! Louis Stevens!" By this time Louis had stuck his fingers in his ears to block out all the horrible noise. "Oh, I can't believe it! Everybody!! A senior asked me to the prom . . ." she tried to finish, but had hyperventilated. Louis was shocked and didn't quite know what to do with the situation. He smiled nervously at the few students still in the band room after school and hit the floor slapping Henrietta lightly on the cheeks. Uh-oh, she's not coming to. I mean, I know I'm a hunk and all, but I never made anyone faint before, Louis thought. A couple of minutes later she came to and was staring into Louis's eyes which kind of freaked Louis out. Not quite knowing what to say, he said, "Um, I'll give ya a ride home."

At about 8:00 that evening, there was a phone call at the Stevens home. "Louis!" screamed Louis's dad. "Phone!"

"Hello?"

"Hey, Louis, it's Tom."

"Yeah, what is it, Tom?"

"Louis, a little birdie told me today that you asked a certain cousin to the annual promenade."

Louis sighed, "Yep, I did, and she almost died, Tom! Did you hear me? She almost died because I asked her! Do you know what it's like to be standing over a passed out girl with a dozen band geeks staring at you because you just asked the freak out?!"

"Louis, I do not appreciate the tone you are using in your vivid recollection of the asking of my cousin, the lovely Miss Henrietta Honoria Gribalski."

"Alright, Tom, alright. I'm sorry. I'm just a little frustrated 'cause, you know, Tawny's going with that guy from the play. I just needed a date, man. Sorry about that. But tell you what, I'll treat her real good at the prom and at dinner. How about that?"

Tom conceded. "Alright, Louis. Sorry I got upset. I'm fine."

"It's alright, Tom. Anyway, I promise I'll treat your cousin good. Talk to ya later, bud."

"Bye, Louis."


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Perhaps I should have done this sooner, but for anyone out there reading this story, I wrote it all out in advance. That's the reason for this many chapters in less than one month's time. I'm just releasing a couple per week. Also, I didn't give any sort of "Read & Review" notice, but reviews would be nice. I would like to thank Even Stevens 20 for your review! Thanks and I hope other people are reading this too! Bye.

7.

Alas, as the final weeks approached, the prom had finally arrived. Louis has spoken with Henrietta on a couple more occasions and they had made plans for the big night, and miraculously she had remained conscious. Twitty had long had a date. Being a band almost guaranteed Twitty a girlfriend. Tom was going stag, as usual. He asked a couple of girls who were in band and a couple who were on the chess team. All negatives, poor Tom. Also, Tawny and Corey were beginning to feel some of their on-stage chemistry. Initially, they thought it would have been too weird to have an actual relationship together. Plus, each of them were going to be leaving Sacramento for college in just a matter of months. It didn't seem to make too much sense. But as Tawny spent more time with Corey, as they did in the time before prom, she grew to learn that he was a nice guy, not just some pretty boy actor-wanna-be.

"Tawny, Tawny, are you there?" Corey asked over the phone.

Tawny needed to be kicked out of her daze. "What? Sorry, I'm just a little preoccupied today."

"This won't take long. I asked if you wanted to eat at Gregorio's tonight before prom."

Tawny bit her lip and said, "That's fine."

"Great. I'll pick you up in two hours, OK?"

"OK. Bye."

"Bye."

Tawny had mixed feelings about the prom to say the least. She turned several guys before finally accepting this guy, and then Louis asked her! Of all people and at all times! Well, that was always Louis's timing, she thought, too little too late. But Corey seemed like a good guy now. He wasn't some shot-hot or some prankster either. He was a good guy. He didn't swear. He wasn't a smoker. He didn't drink, at least to her knowledge. Most of all, this guy was serious. Louis was serious about being a goofball. He was the reigning 2-time class clown. Tawny gave herself a half-smile and thought, yeah, tonight's gonna be fun -- the senior prom.

Back at the Stevens house, Louis was getting ready for the big night . . . with Tom's cousin. Louis had his tuxedo on, minus his coat. He looked in the mirror, and adjusted his cummerbun and his necktie. He ran his fingers through his greasy, always messed-up hair and grabbed his coat and threw it on. He grinned at himself in the mirror and winked. He then turned and winked at his poster idolizing Kramer and he was out the door. The first to see him was his mom. "Louis, you look . . . um, good."

"Thanks, Mom."

Then Louis's dad caught a glimpse of him. "Louis! That's my old blue, disco tux!"

Yes, Louis was wearing a blue tuxedo that obviously belonged in the 1970's. "Nah, Dad, relax. I rented this baby. Yours is still in your 70's closet collecting dust beside all your Neil Diamond records."

"You're really going to your senior prom looking like that, son?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Son, you look like you just walked out of 'Saturday Night Fever' and . . . well, Louis, is your fly down?" his mother asked.

Louis whipped around at the speed of light, checked, and zipped up quick. "Ummm, nope. Everything's fine." Then Louis's dad inspected his wardrobe. "What is it, Dad?"

"Looks fine. I was just checking for a squirting flower or some other absurd gadget you might bring along. I know you couldn't possibly have wanted to go with Tom's cousin in the first place, but be nice to her tonight, OK? She's a very nice girl," Steve said to his son.

"Relax, Dad. I wouldn't pull something like that on prom night. At the homecoming dance maybe, but not the prom," Louis said as he winked at his dad. Louis was in a winking mood. Even though he was going with his undesirable date, he was hoping something big would happen that night. Anything. Something had to happen. He didn't know what, but he knew something was going to happen.

Louis hopped in his Nova and was off to pick up Henrietta. The old blue car sputtered as usual, but Louis stepped out and gave it a couple kicks and it was good as new. Well, good enough to run anyway. He blasted the radio and rolled down his car windows. Then Louis came to a screeching halt because he forgot Henrietta's corsage. Of course. Louis ran through the front door again, grabbed the corsage and the box it was in, and was back out the door. He left the keys in the running car because, who was going to take _that_ car? Whew, almost blew that one, Louis thought.

Louis cruised through neighborhoods and bypasses and finally reached Henrietta Gribalski's house. The house was not especially appealing. It had an exterior that maybe needed a new paint job, and maybe a new color. Pink was not the color Louis wanted to see. He pulled up the drive way and went up the walk. He adjusted his bow tie, held the box with as much pride as he could, and rang the doorbell. The doorbell didn't work of course, so Louis began pounding on the door with his fist until it hurt. But after that second pound, Louis heard an assortment of giggling on the other side of the door and became rather curious. Mr. Gribalski, the brother of Tom's dad, answered the door and said, "Well, hello there. You must be Louis. Please come in." Louis entered. "Henrietta has been telling myself and Gertrude quite a bit about you. You're quite a remarkable young man." Louis grinned and held a fake, distinguished looked on his face. Then Mr. Gribalski continued, "I never would have thought that a 4.0 student would have time for all those charities and fund-raisers for underprivileged children. . ." The smirk left Louis's face because he was beginning to figure out that Henrietta had most likely told her family about Ren, not Louis. ". . . And that full scholarship to Stanford Univerisity and that perfect score on the ACT must have made your parents very proud!"

Louis began, "Oh no, that's my si. . . um yeah. Yeah, it was hard at first to maintain my high academic standards with those extra-curricular commitments, but many people depend on me. I don't like to brag, but I'm rather proud of my accomplishments at James K. Polk High School." Louis finished with a bang. Yeah he lied, but at least this Henrietta girl flattered him. It was a nice change. But once Louis had finished his tall tale of what it's like to be Polk High's most distinguished pupil, he heard the scamper of many feet. "Oh boy," Louis mumbled to himself. The rumbling was the feet of the seven younger Gribalski sisters and the one Gribalski brother: Gwendolyn, Eustacia, Gloria, Judith, Darby, Eunice, Helga and Grayson. All the girls, who were all under the age of 10, started jumping up and down on Louis. By this point, Louis was quite uncomfortable. He had a painful expression on his face as he was struggling to get the crowd away from him. Mr. Gribalski whistled and the girls were silent and arranged in a straight line. "That's impressive," Louis sputtered out.

Now Mr. Gribalski had a camera in his hand as it was time for the official placements of the corsage and the boutinere. Louis took the beautiful corsage out of the box and carefully slipped it onto Henrietta's wrist. Whew, Louis thought, didn't screw it up. Now it was Henrietta's turn. She needed to place the boutinere on Louis's disco jacket. However, Henrietta was not so careful. She removed to pin to place it on his lapel, but when she pinned it on, "Oh my gosh!!" Louis welped in pain. Yes, Henrietta had struck flesh. Louis was biting his lip in pain.

"Are you okay?" Henrietta asked as she placed her hand on Louis's wound.

"I'm fine!!" Louis screamed, still in obvious pain.

"Let me help you!"

Louis shoved her arm aside. "No! No thanks. I think I can handle it." Louis grabbed the boutinere and stuck it on himself. He figured he couldn't hurt himself anymore than Henrietta could. Still irritated, Louis announced, "Come on! To the car!" He was also holding his hand over his wound and was grimacing.

Once in the car, the Gribalski parents waved goodbye to their eldest daughter and her bleeding date. "Where are we going now, Louis? Your house?"

"No. We're going to meet Twitty and Amy for dinner. We're eating at The House of Ribs."

"Um, Louis?"

Irritated still, Louis said, "What is it, Henrietta?"

"I'm a vegetarian."

Great, Louis thought. ". . . but if I still get to eat with you, Louis, I'll eat there."

As upset as Louis was about going with Tom's geeky cousin, and as upset as he was that she stabbed him with a pin, what she just said was kind of sweet. Even Louis was able to figure that out. Struggling to find the right words, Louis said, "You know, Henrietta, I'm sure they've got salads and other stuff besides ribs and steaks. I imagine Twitty and I will have our faces buried in a plate of barbecue sauce tonight, and I'm sure you and Amy can chat over your salads and stuff. You'll have a good time there." She grinned and nodded her head.

Some 20 minutes later they arrived at the eating establishment. Louis and Henrietta walked in just in time to see Twitty and his girlfriend Amy walking out. "Hey man. What's goin' on? Whacha leavin' for?" Louis asked.

"Dude, I told you, we'll eat at 6:00."

"No, you said 7:00, Twit."

"No, because I have to eat at six because my band is playing at prom and we need time to set up and warm up. That's why I needed to eat at 6:00."

"Oh, I see," Louis said. "Well, I guess I'll see you there in a bit. But wait a minute, prom doesn't even start until 9:00!"

"Dude, remember? We need the extra time to set up."

"Oh yeah. Well, I'll see ya there."

"Later."

Louis turned to Henrietta and said, "Well, I guess it's just you and me then." She grinned again.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thank you all very much for the kind reviews! I really appreciate them. Hope everyone is enjoying this. And a special thanks to Ren117 for your review. Coming from the writer of one of my favorite stories, that really means a lot. Enough from me, here's Chapter 8.

8.

Dinner went along rather safely. Louis smeared barbecue sauce all across his face during the meal, but spread so many napkins across himself so that he could keep the blue tuxedo clean. Other than the barbecue sauce and when Henrietta accidentally squirted Louis with some ranch salad dressing, the meal was somewhat uneventful. A lot more customers arrived and service got a little slower, but nothing too exciting. Louis picked up the check and the two were on their way and were set to arrive at the prom at 9:00.

Louis pulled the Nova into the parking lot adjacent to the Sacramento Outdoor Theater, the annual site of the Polk High Junior and Senior Prom. Louis and Henrietta's schoolmates were arriving in throngs and Twitty's Band "The Psychodelic Octopi" was blasting the best tunes. Louis started hopping and poking around, but he was actually only trying to dance. Louis made his way through the crowd until he got up towards the band. The band finished up the song and Louis sent a wave to Twitty. "Hey, man, where's Amy?"

Twitty pointed over to a corner where several girls were congregated. Then he motioned that he needed to get back to work. After all, Twitty was getting paid to be able to play at his own prom, with breaks of course so he could be with his date. The next song was "Unwell" as done by Matchbox 20. Louis worked his way through the crowd until he found the date he inadvertantly ditched. "Hey therrre, Henrietta."

"Hi, Louis."

So, they continued to go through the awkward motions and small talk. After about an hour of fast-paced, rock 'n roll songs, a slow one came up: "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. Sheesh, Louis thought. Louis danced with Henrietta at arms-length, but Henrietta clearly wanted to dance closer to the big, handsome senior. Louis groaned to himself.

But then he saw her. Tawny had just arrived with Corey. She looked gorgeous. Her hair was curled and hanging at her shoulders. Her blue eyes were simply sparkling. She had a huge smile where one could see the slight gap between her teeth on the left side of her mouth. She had a beautiful corsage adorning her wrist. She was sporting a full-length gown - dark blue with straps. Tawny would never go strapless, never go with the crowd. She needed to be different. She didn't even wear her hair up like almost all the other girls did. She was her own independent person. Corey was in a traditional black tux and they paraded down the steps. In Louis's little world, it was like the two of them were walking down the red carpet at the Oscars. Corey and Tawny went down the steps and immediately started dancing. Corey was a natural dancer, the opposite of Louis. The two of them brushed right past Louis who was struggling with Henrietta to maintain any sort of rhythm. They didn't even notice Louis and his date.

Louis tried to not let this bother him. He grabbed Henrietta by the wrist and really tried to dance his best. Still, Louis was tripping over everyone else's feet. The other couple didn't even turn an eye. Corey had a confident smile across his pretty-boy face. Tawny was smiling and laughing. It seemed to echo over the whole outdoor theater. Then the next song began, Ray Charles's "Hit the Road Jack." It was cruel irony for Louis Stevens.

The prom moved along. Song after song would play and during each one Louis would look over towards Tawny and Corey. Louis tried hard to pay attention to his date, but it was getting harder and harder. Henrietta was trying to carry on a conversation with Louis whose head was turned and staring at Tawny and Corey. "You look very nice tonight, Louis."

"Uh huh."

"I'm having a wonderful time with you here."

"Uh huh."

"It's been a lot of fun."

"Uh huh. Yeah."

"I'm really glad you asked me."

"Uh huh."

Sensing that this was not getting far, Henrietta said, "I'm pregnant with the child of Matt LeBlanc."

"Uh huh."

Continuing her farce, Henrietta said, "I'm pregnant with the child of Cosmo Kramer."

"Really?!!" Louis exclaimed, whipping his head around.

"Hmm, that got your attention, silly."

"Sorry about that. I was just a little distracted."

"Uh huh," Henrietta replied.

The prom mercifully came to its end. Tawny's mouth must have been in awful pain because she had been smiling and laughing for a couple hours straight. Louis was just plain depressed. Mr. Wexler approached the microphone on the stage with the band with an announcement. "Seniors, be prepared, be with that very special person, because this will be your last dance as students at James Knox Polk High School." Tawny was looking deep into Corey's eyes while Henrietta was staring at Louis while showing her braces which had food stuck in them from all the snacks they'd been eating. Louis moaned. Finally, it's the last dance of the night, he thought. Twitty pulled out his acoustic guitar and started strumming the beginning of Green Day's "Good Riddance - The Time of Your Life," a classic prom song. All through the song, Louis's heart was weeping. He could see Tawny's head resting on Corey's shoulder. Louis rolled his head back and finally focused on his actual date. The song came to its end with the words, "It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right, I hope you had the time of your life . . . It's something unpredictable, But in the end is right I hope you had the time of your life."

Louis looked over one final time, this time in defeat. To himself he was thinking, Amen to that. This whole prom season was unpredictable, but Tawny, I hope you did indeed have the time of your life. I hope you did. Then Louis bowed his head and motioned to his date that it was time to go.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hello again! Thank you all for the nice reviews; I really appreciate them. So, without further ado, here's #9.

9.

"Thanks for a wonderful evening, Louis."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're welcome."

"I know you probably didn't really want to go with me, but thanks anyway. I saw the girl you were looking at."

Louis acted befuddled, "No, I wanted to be here with . . . wait, what girl?!"

"Oh come on, Louis, I saw you looking at that pretty girl Tawny Dean – all night long. I know you two used to go out. And now she's going out with that guy from the play."

"She's what?!" Louis exclaimed. He couldn't believe it.

"Well, they went to the prom together. They might be going out. But I can tell that you were jealous. I think it's cute," Henrietta grinned.

Louis was a bit frustrated that he was so transparent. "Well, you see, what the deal is, you know, it's very difficult concerning the circumstances, and all that, with the stuff, with everything that's going on, you know what I mean?"

Henrietta just stared at Louis because he was only babbling.

"Sorry about all this tonight. Thanks for going to the prom with me and for putting up with me tonight. Alright, at first I didn't really want to go to the prom with you, but you turned out to be okay, even for Tom's cousin."

She laughed, "Thanks."

Louis pulled her in for a hug at her door and they departed.

Louis drove home in the dark. He felt pretty alone that night. Twitty had called Louis on his cellphone telling him about an after-prom party, but Louis wasn't interested. He drove straight home and went to bed, in his blue disco tux and everything.

The next morning was harsh. It was Sunday and Louis woke up to the smell of breakfast. "Good morning, dear," his mother greeted.

"Mornin'."

"Son, you're still in your tux!" Steve exclaimed.

Louis, still groggy, looked down and felt his clothes with his hands, "Hmm, I think you're right, Dad. It looks like I'm still in my tux."

"But why?" his dad probed.

Louis shifted his eyes looking for an answer, "Umm, I uh, just wanted to get a head-start on um . . ."

"Louis! You didn't drink last night did you?!" his mom wondered.

"No, no. I dropped Henrietta off and came back home. No pranks, no horsing around, nothing. You guys ought to be proud of me."

Steve and Eileen kind of shifted their eyes at each other wondering what was really going on with their youngest son. Then Eileen slid a plate of fried eggs, bacon, sausage, four pancakes, and hash browns in front of him. Louis didn't appear too interested. He set the plate down, untouched, and Louis went back to bed. And he stayed in bed until Monday morning, time for school.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: No worries, Dusty. Chapter 9 was not the end of the story. There's plenty more to come. Anyway, here's Chapter 10. Glad you're all enjoying it so far.

10.

It was 7:00 a.m. again and Louis pulled himself out of bed. At least the school year's almost over, Louis thought. Louis crawled out of his bed and dragged his feet over to his closet. He pulled on another Hawaiian shirt and some khaki shorts. When it came to his wardrobe, Louis was not one to change. He brushed his teeth and made his way to his car, still parked in the drive way. But he was intercepted along the way. "Louis, honey, you should eat something before you go."

Louis had 20 minutes. "Okay." Then Louis proceeded to grab an armful of pancakes and eggs and was off like the wind.

Eileen looked towards the door Louis had just walked out of, "Hmm, his appetite must be back."

Louis sped on his way to Polk High. He was sticking pancakes in his mouth with his bare hand as the tunes blasted away in his Nova. It looked like the old Louis. It looked like things would be back to normal. He pulled into his usual parking spot, at the usual 5 minutes after the first bell to start the day. Maybe Louis just needed to get some rest to get those troubles behind him. He opened up the front door to the school and kept a sharp eye for administrators who were eager to give him a tardy slip. Louis hid behind a pillar and took a good look at the scenery. Louis tip-toed past the front office and made his way to the stairwell. Louis made his way up the stairs to his class. But he first needed to make some preparations for something. Then Louis made his way to the classroom and discreetly took his seat next to Twitty.

Class moved along slowly and the bell rang. Louis was snickering thinking about the drop he'd just made. "What are you laughing about, man?" Twitty asked.

Louis was trying desperately not to laugh. He took a hold of Twitty's shirt and pulled him closer. "You see, I got this great prank set up. It's just down the hall. If my calculations are correct, Tom should be coming out of his Home Ec class or Quilting or whatever he's in, and he should be coming out to be greeted with . . ." Louis heard the familiar, bold scream:

"STEVENS!!"

Louis' grin was instantly gone and his eyes were bugged out. "Uh oh. Wexler got it." Principal Wexler was standing at the end of the hallway covered in clam chowder and absolutely furious. His eyes were staring at the prankster and Louis could see the fire consuming the principal. "Um, dude, I think I gotta go." Twitty patted Louis on the back for good luck and Louis was off to the races.

Louis was off and running, and as usual, he was knocking various people over as Wexler pursued him. Wexler raised his finger in Louis' direction, "Stevens!!" Louis continued knocking students over and even a couple teachers. He was running frantically. He made a turn around a corner and ran into Corey who was chatting it up with Tawny. Louis hit the ground hard when he ran into the mammoth, muscular actor. Louis panicked as he tried to get back to his feet. Tawny, who was very confused about the whole ordeal, said, "Louis, what's going on?" Louis bounced to his feet and was off running again before he could answer Tawny. She was still a bit confused until she saw Mr. Wexler running past them, with clam chowder covering his face and suit. Tawny made a sarcastic grin and said, "Oh gee. I wonder what happened."

Corey looked down the hall watching the husky principal chase after the ambitious prankster. "Tawny, why does your friend always do stupid things? I mean, what's his problem?"

Tawny crossed her arms, sighed, and said, "Well, Louis likes to play practical jokes. Sometimes he'll act like a real kid. He's alright. He's still just growing up." Then Corey put his arm around Tawny and said, "Well, it's nice that we know a couple people who are grown up." Tawny giggled slightly and they were on their way. Meanwhile, Wexler was still in hot pursuit of the crafty prankster. They had nearly made an entire revolution around the hallways. Louis was looking back and he didn't even notice that he was back at the sight of the infamous prank. Clam chowder was still covering the floor, Louis slipped, flew in the air and landed on his butt on the ground. He staggered, trying to get up, but this time it was too late. Louis was pulling his weight up when he felt a hand grab his ear.

"Gotcha!"

With a horrified look on his face, Louis said, "Mr. Wexler! Hi! How ya doin'? Hey, what happened to you?" He was trying to act innocent, even though he had just been running away from him.

"Mr. Stevens! You are coming with me!" Mr. Wexler screamed as he pulled Louis by his ear to the front office. When they arrived there, he dropped Louis in his usual chair and Wexler took his place behind his desk and pulled out a file. Still dripping with some of the clam chowder, Mr. Wexler said, "Stevens, your shenanigans have gone on far enough."

"Mr. Wexler, it's not what you think."

"Then what is it? Then what is it that's dripping from my body? Is it cole slaw? Bean dip perhaps?"

"Um, it's clam ch. . . I mean, um . . . how are you doing today, Mr. Wexler? How's your mom doing these days? Which reminds me, there was a nice elderly lady I was about to walk across the street, but you pulled me over. So if you don't mind . . ." Louis said as he was beginning to get up out of his chair.

"Park it, Stevens."

"Um, Mr. Wexler, what's that?" Louis asked, referring to the manila file folder that was packed a little thick with papers and referrals.

"This," Wexler began, "Is your personal file."

"All of that is my file?" Louis pointed and asked.

"No, this is just since Christmas." Louis frowned. "January 18: you brought a camel to school and were charging students $5.00 to ride the animal to class."

"What's the big deal, Mr. Wexler? We're in America, a capitalist country, and well, I was capitalizing..."

"Stevens! Do you know how long it took Janitor Bud to clean up the messes he left. It was everywhere!"

"Well, you see . . ."

"And on January 30: You were taking bets for the Super Bowl. You had a big board set up, you had a cheap green visor, and twenty dollar bills were sticking out of your pants." Louis still frowned. Wexler continued, "And on Valentine's Day, you brought in a mariachi band to create a diversion while you were leading a raffle in the hallway." Now Louis chuckled as he recalled the classic prank. "But the reason I'm making you sit through this is because I'm giving you one last chance to straighten up. You will be walking the graduation line in 3 weeks . . . provided that you don't pull any more pranks until then. Do we have an understanding?"

"I guess so, but what happens if a prank gets pulled, which I didn't do, but I end up taking the blame anyway?"

"Then you will be suspended and not permitted to walk the line with your friends."

Louis gulped hard and went to class.


	11. Chapter 11

11.

Louis took Mr. Wexler's ultimatum very seriously. For a change. He spent the final three weeks of high school slacking off. With it being the last weeks of high school, Louis contracted a fatal case of "senioritis" a condition that many high school seniors get when they're almost done with school and are very unmotivated to do any work at all. Almost everyday after school Louis would go out to eat with Twitty and Tom. One day the three amigos were sitting at their usual table at "Crazy Hal and Sal's Wing Shack," their favorite after school eating joint. Their specialty was buffalo wings doused in hot sauce. "Hey, Louis, I can't believe we're almost done with high school. Soon we'll all be in college," Twitty said. "Say, when is Ren gonna be back?"

Louis was taking a bite into a spicy wing. "She got home a couple days ago. She took some extra stupid course. That's why she wasn't here like three weeks ago. She's already been nagging me."

"What's she doing this summer?" Twitty asked.

Louis kept eating. "I dunno. Probably some stupid school stuff. Oh, by the way, she's not interested in you, Twitty. Whether it was junior high or high school, dude, she doesn't like you, not in that way. Plus, don't you have a girlfriend?"

Twitty was taken aback. "Sorry, man. I was just asking."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Sorry I burst out like that. I guess I'm just a little twitchy because Wexler threatened to suspend me if I pull one more prank or one more anything. But time is almost up. We've got finals coming up at the beginning of the week and then it'll all be over. We graduate Friday night and then it's over. Then Louis Stevens will be back." Louis took another bite, "Oh, and it would be way too weird for you and my sister to be together, too." The guys shared a laugh, with Tom's being the loudest and most annoying. Louis and Twitty stared at him until Tom realized what was going on.

"What is it, home-brothers? What is the deal, yo?" Tom said, trying to sound hip and cool. However, it only made Louis and Twitty laugh more. It was like the good old days. "So, what are you guys up to this summer?" Tom asked.

Twitty said that he was just trying to get some gigs for his band and probably try to write some more music. Then it was off to college. He was going to UCLA. Louis, however, did not have much of a plan at all. He figured it was time to finally get an after-school job, especially since he was about to be done with school. After that, Louis figured he would probably watch TV and play video games. "I might go to college. The old man keeps bugging me about going to college, like it's a big deal or something."

Tom looked across the table and said, "Louis, it is very important to get a college education. I mean, without a college degree, you could end up at a dead-end job, packing groceries, picking up litter, washing cars and you'll be kicking yourself because you blew a great chance to expand your mind, broaden your horizons, study some of the greatest philosophers . . ."

With food still in his mouth, Louis stuck out his hand and said, "Tom! Tom! Relax. Have some of your little herbal tea or hug your mom or something. Just take it easy. I mean, I'm not even 18 yet. There's still lots of time to figure things out. I mean, I figure I'll go to college eventually anyway. So just settle down. Sheesh."

But before Louis could continue ranting Tom, Tom burst out waving, "Tawny!" Twitty started waving but Louis was slow and still had his face down in his food. "Long time no see!" Tom greeted.

Although it was 85 degrees in Sacramento and nearly everyone was wearing shorts, Tawny was still wearing jeans with a t-shirt and sandals, and had a silver necklace hanging around her neck. "Hey guys. Hey Twitty, Tom. Hi Louis." Louis sort of grunted and waved a greasy hand in Tawny's direction.

"Miss Dean, to what do we owe this pleasure? We hardly see you anymore. You're usually off with your new boyfriend." Tom asked.

Tawny grinned in embarassment and said, "Yeah, well, Corey and I have been out doing a lot of stuff together lately."

A mischievous grin came across Twitty's face, "What kind of stuff are you talking about, huh?"

"Nothing that I'm sure you pervs are thinking about. Corey's not like that. He's not some hot-rod. He's a nice guy."

"Cool," Twitty replied. "So, where is he right now?"

"He's parking his car."

At that moment, Louis looked up from his wings and saw a bright red Camaro went screeching by, swurved tight into the parking spot next to where Louis had parked his Nova, and the Camaro took out Louis' sideview mirror. Louis saw this and made a high pitched sound and dropped his buffalo wing. Yeah, the Nova was pretty crappy, but it was his. Then he saw a guy in cargo shorts walked out with the sleeves torn off his shirt exposing his muscles and it was none other than Corey. His hair was full of gel and he had sunglasses shading him. He made his way into the restaurant and he hugged Tawny. "Hey, Tawn."

"Hi, Core."

He flipped off his shades in dramatic fashion. "Tawny, you should see the pathetic looking little excuse for a car that I just swung by. It had to be from the 80's. What a load of . . ."

Tawny cut him off. "Um, Corey, I think that was Louis' car."

The big, goofy grin was gone from Corey's face. Thinking on his feet he said, "Nice car, Louis," flipping his shades back on. "Say, Tawn, do you want to get something to eat here?"

"Nah. I just thought I might see these suckers here. I haven't seen them too much since we were in the play. Sorry about that guys. But, hey, school's almost out and we'll be able to hang out a lot more."

"Cool," Twitty smiled and said as he brushed his blonde hair out of his face. "So, what've you been up to lately?"

"Oh, Corey and I have been hanging out a lot," she said as they held each other. "Sometimes we'll go for a walk in the park or read together. Nothing too crazy."

"Well, it's good to see someone new for a change. It's just been we three guys for awhile now. We've been getting tired of just looking at each other!" Twitty joked.

Tawny chuckled too. "Well, I imagine we should be going. We just came in to say hi to you guys. I figured you might be here. But I'll see you later. Corey and I are going to a film festival in San Francisco this weekend. It should be very nice. Good luck on your finals, guys. See you next week! Bye!"

"Bye, Tawny," Tom said. Twitty did likewise. Louis kept eating. Never even looked up.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: OK, this chapter's a little long, but it's a little happier than the previous chapters (or at least I think so!). Yeah, this is three chapters in two days, but I think it's time for some happier times, don't you? So . . . here we go.

12.

The big day had arrived. It was the day of graduation for James Knox Polk High School. The 350 graduates-to-be were gathered in the school gymnasium in their caps and gowns and were awaiting instructions from their administrators. The bleachers were pulled out and most of the students were sitting, talking, laughing, and having a great time just knowing that their high school careers were nearly over. Mr. Wexler was on the gym floor trying to direct traffic with his bullhorn. Louis, Twitty and Tom were all sitting up in the bleachers.

"So, Lou, this is the big day! Do you have anything planned?" Twitty asked Louis.

Louis had a mischevious look on his face. "Whatever do you mean?"

Twitty smacked Louis in the shoulder, "Hey, man, you know Wexler's ban on you ends today. It's graduation. Come on, you know you've got something up your sleeve. I mean, it's our graduation. You know you've got something planned."

Louis kept grinning and looked down, "Ohhh, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, Louis, you kidder. Of course you've got something."

"Yeah, what is it? Something to do with that spaghetti bomb you used years ago on Coach Tugnut?" Twitty suggested.

"Oh! I bet I know what it is! It's a stink bomb of some sort!" Tom interjected.

Louis shook his head. "That's kid stuff. I've had weeks to think and sort this thing out . . ."

Louis was interrupted by the sound of Wexler's bullhorn. "Attention, please, students. The time is almost here! Now, if you would please get into your graduation order, alphabetically by last name as we practiced, and the sooner we get this done, the sooner you will be high school graduates and the sooner that you won't have to be here, and the sooner that I won't have to see Louis Stevens anymore! Wait, did I say that out loud?" There was a short pause by Wexler as he thought about his last comment before he finished,"Anyway, get into order!"

Louis, Twitty, and Tom all slapped each other a high five and ran into line and found the people they were supposed to be standing next to. Louis found his place and made sure that he had his magic remote control with him. And, once the whole crew of 350 had found their places, several minutes later, the senior class made its way outside. It was early in the evening and the sun was not yet down. The graduates looked out the gym and could see the site of their graduation: the hallowed Donald Stevens Football Field. Yes, Donnie experienced so much success at Polk High that the school insisted the field be named after him. Everyone, including Louis, was experiencing some shivers. After all, this was one of, if not THE crowning moment of one's youth: the high school graduation.

The long, single-file line made its way onto the field, one-by-one as the school's band valiantly and beautifully played "Pomp and Circumstance," the official graduation theme. The class made it to their seats and sat down. Mr. Wexler took his position at the front podium and was preparing to speak. The football grandstands were filled and all of the Stevens' were there: The proud parents, sister Ren and big brother Donnie were present. The grandparents were there as well and were snapping photographs. They couldn't have been prouder . . .

HONK!!

Everyone started looking at Louis. He was shifting his eyes saying, "What? Did you hear something?" Yes, as it turns out Louis stuffed an airhorn under his graduation gown. Wexler proceeded to get down from his podium and march all the way across some 20 rows of students and grabbed Louis and searched him. "Hey! Hey!" Louis cried. "That tickles!"

"Ah ha!" Wexler proclaimed as he pulled out a horn as the whole audience was laughing. The whole audience that is, except for the Stevens' clan. Well, Donnie was laughing a little, but Steve, Eileen, Ren, and the grandparent Stevens were not amused. Wexler wagged his finger at Louis and stormed off, only bringing more laughter from the crowd and the students. Twitty, who was seated in the row behind Louis, leaned over, held out his hand and said, "Dude, that was awesome."

Louis slapped his pal's hand and said, "You ain't seen nothin' yet." Then he pulled out his remote control and started waving it. "The 'ol windbag didn't take this!"

Wexler approached the podium and gave a nervous smile and a nervous chuckle to make up for the previous event. "Well, now that that's taken care of, let's carry on with the ceremony, shall we? With the end of another year and the graduating of another class of fine students, a lot can rush through the mind of any given student, teacher or principal. The word 'school' is derived from the old Greek word 'schoalia,' meaning 'a place of leisure and/or learning and I would like to think that . . ." But, as Wexler droned on with his opening speech, Louis was in the back tilting his head back and forth and moving his lips, mocking the principal, as always. But finally, the principal finished his speech and he, along with several other administrators stood in line to hand out diplomas and shake the hands of the anxious students.

Some 250 students had their names called before "Louis Anthony Stevens" was called. Louis was strolling proudly up the aisle to the front with the rest of the row. He quickly reached into his pocket to retrive something he needed. Nope, the special remote control was not to be used yet. He received his diploma in his left hand and shook the principal's hand with his right and buzzzz! Yep, it was the old classic hand buzzer. Wexler was steaming and Louis held up his hand showing the buzzer and Louis said, "I'm sorry, this is the last thing. I swear." He laughed all the way back. He held up his hand for the whole crowd to see as he had his tongue wagging out. There were several in the stands that cheered and laughed. However, his parents had buried their faces in their hands in embarassment. Tawny chuckled a little bit. She figured only Louis would be doing this during graduation. Corey was sitting in his seat and was looking rather cross. He whispered to the guy next to him, "What a loser."

Finally, Dwight Alexander Zigghoff, the last name, was called. Mr. Wexler approached the podium one final time and announced for the entire crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the graduating class of James Knox Polk High School!" Almost simultaneously, almost 350 graduation caps flew into the air. Almost. While everyone else was tossing their caps in the air in jubilee, Louis had reached into his pocket for that infamous remote control. He pressed it, a red light appeared and behind the bleachers, a cage that was housing big, slobbering dogs was opened and ran out onto the football field in pandemonium. Now, Louis threw his cap upward in celebratory fashion.

The dogs were running ferociously up to the front and started to lick administrators like crazy. Mr. Wexler received quite a bit of licking from a St. Bernard. Coach Tugnut, though still the gym teacher at Lawrence Junior High and was present to congratulate students, also received quite a bit of love from the dogs. Fortunately for the teachers, Tugnut had a whistle and blew it as loud as he could. As a result, the dogs backed off and ran into the crowd.

Meanwhile, Louis and Twitty were jumping up and down and hugging each other. They were probably doing it as much for the fact that they had just graduated as it was with the success of Louis' final prank as a student. However, the celebration stopped when Louis was suddenly jumped on by one of the mutts. A German Shepherd had jumped up and taken Louis down from behind. "Hey, dude! I think your plan back fired on you a little bit!" Twitty exclaimed.

Louis, on the ground and getting doggie kisses, said, "Yeah, maybe just a little." They were both cracking up.

Then Tawny came by with a huge smile on her face. "Hey, guys. A funny thing happened after I graduated. I saw a bunch of dogs unleashed on the administrators of our school. I wonder who might have orchestrated that plan? Hmmm?" she wondered sarcastically.

Both Louis and Twitty were laughing pretty hard. Louis got up off the ground and Tawny hugged him. "Um, congratulations, Louis."

"Uh, you too, Tawny," Louis said as he was hugging Tawny, in a very awkward fashion.

"Congratulations, Twitty," she said as they hugged.

"Congratulations, Tawny," he wiped the hair out of his face. "So, what now?"

"Oh, I think I'm gonna say hi to a couple other people and then I'm probably gonna split," she replied.

"Yeah, we'll probably do the same. Do you wanna hang out tonight?"

"Sure, just give me a little while so I can see some people. And I'm trying to find my parents, too," she said as she scanned the crowd. "Bye for now."

"See ya. Hey, Lou, lets work the crowd," Twitty suggested. They quickly ran into Tom. Hard to believe as it was, Tom didn't have very much people to talk to. He, Twitty and Louis were pretty much the three amigos. Finally, Louis saw his family as they were looking for him.

"There's my baby!" his mother exclaimed.

"Congratulations, son," his father proudly said.

"Thanks, Dad."

"Way to go, Louis. I never thought I'd see this," Ren said.

Louis chuckled. He responded with the sarcastic, "Ha ha."

Now it was Donnie's turn. "Lou, congratulations, man. I always knew you could do it . . ." Donnie could only begin his congratulatory remarks. He was caught from behind by Coach Tugnut.

"Donnie! Oh Donnie!" the old coach cried as he wrapped his arms around Donnie so tight that he could almost not move.

"Um, Coach . . . it's nice to see you too, I guess."

Just seeing Donnie again may have been too much for Coach Tugnut. Maybe he was re-living all the great moments he lived through when Donnie was still in Sacramento. Maybe he was just choked up to see the son that he never had again. Or it could have been that he had grown very lonely since Mrs. Tugnut left him for that Danish kick-boxer, Ansgar.

So, Donnie and Tugnut went off on their way catching up on their lives. Donnie had entered his name into the NFL draft a few months earlier and he recently found out that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had selected him. He didn't need to report to mini-camp for another couple weeks, so he was able to come to Louis' graduation. Tugnut was still torturing seventh graders with their physical endurance tests.

"So, Lou, congratulations again. Well, I suppose we should get on back to the house. I'm sure you've got friends that you'd like to hang with tonight." his dad said.

"Oh, I think Twitty, Tom, Tawny and I were gonna go get something to eat, but probably nothing else."

"Well, we'll see you at the house then." And the Stevens were off. All of them, except for Donnie who was still being entertained by Tugnut who just didn't seem to want to let him go.

In the distance one could hear, "Coach! I gotta go! My ride's leaving! And you're really freaking me out here!"

"Hey, Lou. Me and Tom are ready. You?"

Louis was looking around. Then Tawny showed up. "Hey, guys."

"Alright. Let's split," Louis announced.


	13. Chapter 13

13.

The crew was jammed into Louis' Nova and they were off to try and find some restaurant that was still open at 9:00 at night. They came up to one of their favorites: "Krusty's All-Night Waffle Hut." The gang ordered a plate of eight blueberry pancakes. They were all starving so they'd probably dig right into the plate as soon as the order arrived.

"Wow, I can't believe we're done with high school," Tawny said.

"I can. I mean, we are about to embark on the rest of our lives. I mean, shortly we will all be college students, most likely in vastly different places. Who knows when we'll see each other again? I mean, this could be the last summer that the four of us could all be together as one group. I mean, this plate of pancakes could be the last one that we share together . . ."

Twitty quickly covered Tom's mouth with his hand. "Easy, Tom. We just graduated a couple hours ago."

"Yeah, I'm so glad to be done with school. I'm so glad that ban Wexler put on me is over," Louis confessed.

"He looked pretty mad, Louis," Tawny began, but then she started laughing, "but the one with the dogs was pretty good!"

Louis was grinning and said, "Yeah, sometimes I don't know how I come up with this stuff!" He paused for a moment and then remembered an image from the night that he would never forget. "Yeah, and I never would have thought that the poodle would keep on biting his leg! I mean, you would have thought when Wexler was shaking and kicking, the dog would have let go!"

All four erupted with laughter. Then the food arrived. The plate had barely touched the blue and white checkered table cloth before Louis had stuck his face right smack in the middle of the plate. Everyone laughed even harder with their lovable friend once again being a hoot. Twitty was grinning heavily, "Hey, dude, I think maybe you ought to chew before you swallow." Louis didn't really say anything besides a few barely audible noises and continued gorging.

"I think that when he comes up for air we should grab some of those pancakes," Tawny suggested.

While Louis was still stuffing his face, Tom asked Tawny, "Say, where is young Corey this evening?"

"Oh, he was going to hang out with some of his family tonight. We'll probably do something tomorrow."

"How long have you guys been going out?" Twitty wondered.

Tawny tried to recall all the facts. "Well, after the play he asked me to prom but I said no. After while I asked if he had a date and he didn't so, we ended up going to prom together anyway."

Louis pulled up. "Hmm, hot-shot actor didn't have a date, huh? Good for you. Helped him out of a little jam, huh!" Louis quipped.

Tawny gave one of her stares at Louis. "No, I wanted to go with him."

Louis realized he probably sounded like a jerk, so he finished with, "Hm. Uh huh."

It was a slightly awkward silence and Twitty spoke up, "Well, guys, I'll catchya later. I gotta call Amy. I can get something to eat at her house. Later."

"Bye, Twitty," they said.

"Well, I better go. I told my mom I'd be back soon," Tawny said.

"Bye, Tawny," Tom said.

"Bye."

"Well, Tom, looks like it's just you and me, buddy!" Louis screamed as he gave Tom a friendly smack. So, the last two of the group stayed for a little while longer. Louis and Tom shared some laughs.

After another half an hour later Tom said, "You know, Louis, I think it might be time for us to go."

"Why do you say that, Tom?"

"Well, I think that the fact that we have half a dozen angry truck drivers staring at us might be a reason."

Louis shifted his eyes. Then he said in the direction of the drivers, "H-Hey there, fellas. Wh-Wh-What's up?" he said very nervously.

One of the drivers said, "You said that we were a bunch of lazy, dumb, out-of-work construction workers."

Louis tried to think of something to say. Anything that could get him out of his bind. "Actually, um, big sir, what I said was that uhh, when people are working at the same job for a long time, they tend to um, you know when they do the same thing day after day after day is . . ." Louis was really stumbling over his words by this point. Then he nudged Tom and said, "Book it, Tom! Run!!" So, the two of them made a mad dash for the door as Louis grabbed a couple of plates and threw them at the truck drivers out of desperation. Of course, since Louis throws like a girl, he missed his target badly, but fortunately one of the plates shattered on one of the knees of a truck driver, thus creating just enough of a diversion so they could make a run for Louis' car. Louis frantically pulled out his keys and tried to get his door open and then be able to open up the door for Tom. Then once Louis found the correct key, he hopped in and opened up Tom's passenger side door. They got buckled in and Louis hit the gas pedal just in time. One of the thugs had jumped onto the trunk of the Nova. Tom nudged Louis to show him there was someone on the truck and Louis slammed on the brakes. Then he put the gas pedal to the floor and Louis and Tom had made their escape.

"OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh," Louis kept saying in barely more than a whisper because he was so out of breath.

"Well, Louis, it appears that we have once again averted danger and are on our way to safety," Tom said. "Boy, I could sure use a cup of hot cocoa."

Louis smirked, "Me too."

Louis and Tom made their safe getaway. It looked like the old Nova had one more burst left in it. Louis and Tom finally let out some breaths of exhalation and relief. Louis dropped Tom off at his house and they exchanged a handshake, Tom didn't give hi-fives too often. Louis and Tom shared another smile and congratulated each other on their graduation again. Then Louis was off to his house. Another disaster caused and solved by the great Louis Stevens.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Alright, we're back. If anybody's still reading this, stay patient because the story is now halfway over and it gets better. Trust me! Anyway, you didn't really want to listen to me ramble on, so here it is.

14.

It was about noon the next day. Louis was in his bed, snoring away as usual. He was done with high school and he thought life was perfect. The phone rang and Louis didn't do any more than grunt and roll over. Ren answered the phone and came upstairs to get her brother. She swung open his door, not knocking, and yelled, "Louis! Telephone!"

Louis opened up a single eye and focused on Ren. "Who is it?" he mumbled in a very sluggish dialect.

"Twitty. Who else?" She tossed him the cordless phone and left.

"Twitty? What is it? You know not to call me this early in the day. It's not even 3 p.m. yet."

"Yeah, I know, man, but you mind if I come over? I need to talk to ya."

"Sure." Then they hung up and Louis rushed to get dressed. Twitty showed up at the house about 10 minutes later. He rang the bell and Louis ran down the stairs, knocked Ren down when he got down stairs and answered the door. He and Twitty exchanged hi-fives and were all smiles for a few seconds. "So, what's up, man? Did you get something to eat over at Amy's?" Louis asked, breaking the ice.

They moved inside and Twitty started telling his story. "Well, dude, after I left the Waffle Hut, I went over to Amy's like I said and then we got to talking and stuff and that led to some deep stuff that we've never really gotten into before. I mean, stuff like college and life plans and she started talking about moving on. And that eventually led to our relationship. And then she said it'd probably be best if we broke up."

Louis grabbed his buddy and brought him in for a friendly, manly squeeze. In other words, Louis hugged his best friend. "Sorry to hear that, bud."

"Yeah, I don't know what to do. I kinda wanna be alone, but that'll probably just get me more depressed."

"Hey, Twitty, you can hang out here as long as you want."

Then Mrs. Stevens came walking through the hallway and saw the boys. "Hi there, Alan. How are you today?"

"Oh, I'm alright," Twitty said sighing and looking at the floor.

Louis put his arm around Twitty's shoulder and said softly to his mom, "His girlfriend dumped him last night."

She placed her hand on her chest and said, "Oh, Alan, I'm so sorry. Would you like me to make you something to eat?"

"Maybe just a glass of milk, Mrs. Stevens." So, she was off and Louis and Twitty took a seat on a nearby couch and Twitty let the whole story come out. He and Amy had dated throughout the whole senior year of high school. They kissed once in awhile, but there was never much more than that. She was more interested in getting "tied down" and Twitty was more interested in music and hanging out with his friends. Then Louis' mom came with a glass of milk for Twitty. "Thank you, Mrs. Stevens," and she left. Then Twitty went on to say that when he, Louis, Tom, and Tawny all went out to eat to celebrate, she felt pretty left out. The group tried to welcome her in, but it was never very easy and she didn't quite fit in. So, in her eyes, breaking up with Twitty was the only reasonable thing to do.

Louis tried to throw in some words of encouragement for his buddy, "Look, Twitty, women -- we don't need 'em. They're worthless. Just extra baggage. That's all! They mean almost nothing. They need men, but men don't need women. They can have their marriage crap and their soap operas and their stupid actor boyfriends. We don't need 'em, man!"

Twitty was about to agree with Louis when he said, "What? Did you say 'stupid actor boyfriends'?"

Louis had a blank look on his face and was looking for something clever to say when he finally said, "I, uh didn't say 'stupid actor boyfriends', I said 'stupid active waiters' because you know, they're always flirting with those stupid waiters at those stupid fancy restaurants that they always expect you to take them to! You know what I mean?"

Twitty slowly grinned and said, "Lou, you're jealous that Tawny's going out with Corey, aren't you?"

Louis put his hands on his hips in disbelief and said, "No! No way!" Then Twitty raised an eyebrow and stared at Louis for a second. "Hmm, maybe a little."

Twitty clapped his together upon this revelation. "Dude! You're jealous of Tawny and Corey! You're even turning red! This is sweet!"

Louis turned to hide his reddening face and said, "I am not!"

Twitty was really smiling by this point, "Aw, dude, I think it's kinda sweet, if you don't mind me saying . . ."

Louis pointed his finger at Twitty and said, "I thought we were here because Amy broke up with you!"

Twitty's happy world came to a crashing halt. "Aw, man, thanks for reminding me. I thought I'd gotten that off my mind."

"Sorry, man. But, hey, what I can I do for ya?"

Twitty was looking for the right thing to say. Except for that brief moment of joy when he figured out that Louis was feeling a little bit of jealousy, Twitty was a pretty depressed guy. "I dunno, man. I know people always want to be left alone right after they get dumped, but I could really use someone to be with for a little while. Do you mind?"

Louis slapped Twitty's back. "Hey, man, you're my best friend. I got your back."

Twitty started smiling again, "Thanks, dude."

Louis and Twitty went up to Louis' room and they popped in a movie and they were back to laughing like old times. They were watching an old Steve Martin movie and they were really cracking up. They laughed so hard they were almost crying. Twitty was doing a lot better. It looked like he had already gotten over Amy. After all, for two people that dated for several months, they didn't go on many dates. Twitty was usually hanging out and conspiring schemes with Louis, although most schemes were Louis' ideas anyway. So, after the movie was over, they collected themselves and they walked back to Twitty's house. "Hey, dude, thanks. I'm doing a little bit better now."

"No problem, man," Louis said. "Anytime. I know you'd do the same for me."

"Later, Lou."

Louis waved to say goodbye, but then he had a revelation. "Hey, Twitty!"

"Yeah?"

"I just had an idea."

"Uh oh. Do I want to know?"

"Oh yeah. This isn't a bad one or anything. What's the one thing we haven't done in all our time together as best buds?"

Twitty scratched his head and said, "Stayed out of trouble?"

"Besides that."

"Well, I dunno."

"A trip! That's what we need. A senior trip!"

Twitty grinned and brushed his blonde hair out of his face. "Dude, that's a sweet idea, but . . ."

"But what, Twitty?"

"How are your parents gonna let you do that? You don't have a job, you barely have a car that works, so how are your parents gonna just let you go on a trip somewhere in the country?"

Louis shifted his eyes back and forth and grinned . . .

Two days later:

"Stevens!"

Louis looked up and saw his angry boss literally snorting steam out his nose. "Yes, sir, Mr. Dingo, sir!" he reported and saluted.

"The name's Drango, Stevens. Now take these documents up to the fifth floor."

So, as Louis was about to talk to his dad about the whole senior trip idea, he told Louis that there was a job in the mail room at his law firm and encouraged Louis to give it a try. Louis had nothing to lose. Besides, if Louis didn't get a job, his dad would never let him go on a trip. "Yes, SIR!!" Louis said loudly and saluted yet again.

"Relax, Stevens. You're not in the army. Just do it!" the manager said. "Now go!!!"

Louis was off and running. He clutched a stack of law documents under his arm and ran up some stairs furiously. He swung open a door and was about to rush through the hallway to his destination. But, when he opened the door he knocked over someone, of course. "Sorry about that, sir," he said. The lawyer brushed himself off and sent a scowl in Louis' direction. Louis kept on moving until he reached the office he needed to be in. "Hi, Dad."

"Hey there, son. Do you have something for me?"

"Sure do."

"So, how's your first day in the working world going?"

"Oh, it's OK, Dad. I got the boss downstairs a little steamed 'cause I kinda put some vinegar in his coffee. But I think we got it all worked out."

Steve kind of turned an eyebrow up and then he said, "Well, don't worry about it, Lou. You'll do just fine with him. Just do what he tells you and you'll be fine in your job down there in the mailroom. Tell you what, lunch is coming up in another hour. What do you say we go get some burgers? My treat."

Louis grinned, "Sure."

Steve proudly patted his son on the back and said, "Well, I'll come on down in an hour or so to get you. See you."

"Bye, Dad."


	15. Chapter 15

15.

Louis had actually adjusted to his job in the law firm's mailroom quite well. Once he stopped tripping over his own feet and started calling his manager by his actual name Mr. Drango, and not Mr. Dingo, he actually earned his boss's respect a little bit. True, Louis was the youngest person in the mailroom, but he was earning about $6.00 per hour, so he was happy. His dad told him that if Louis worked there for 6 weeks straight without getting fired or anything drastic like that, or earned $1000, he'd see to it that Louis got a week off to go on a trip with his friends. And once Louis learned this refreshing news he jumped up and down, screamed imitating a girl and covered his lips with his fingertips, also imitating a girl. He started hugging his dad over and over and Steve had to settle Louis down because he still had to complete the minimum six weeks. But Louis was too excited to keep the news to himself. He had to call Twitty up and tell him the great news.

"So, man, is it just gonna be you and me then or something?"

"Oh, we can invite Tom if he wants to come, too."

"What about Tawny?"

Louis thought for a second. "Hmm, I don't know if my parents will go for that what with this being an overnight trip deal and her being a girl with us guys. . ."

"Yeah, you have a point. Anyway, I'll call Tom."

"Cool. Later."

"Bye."

Later on, Tom got the news and they decided on a time to take their actual trip and where they were actually going. They didn't know if they wanted to stay in-state or go a little out. Florida was much too far. Las Vegas offered a little too much for Steve and Eileen Stevens to allow their son to go. San Francisco was too close. Seattle had too much rain. Los Angeles was too big. However, since no verdict could be reached, the Stevens' caved in and said that Los Angeles was OK. After all, Louis would be 18 by then and Tom and Twitty were already 18. They figured they could be trusted. Then Louis got a phone call from Tawny.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Louis."

"Oh, hey there Tawny. What's up?"

"Not much. I just heard that you guys are going on a little senior trip."

"Um, yeah, kinda."

Tawny wasn't really getting through to him. She knew the guys were going on a trip and they hadn't asked her. "Louis, I know about the trip. Thanks for not inviting me."

Louis was really taken aback. "Wait, wait. That's not it. That's not it at all." Louis could literally hear Tawny's eyes rolling. "Listen, Tawny, it's not that I, or we didn't want you to come along or anything like that."

"Look, Louis, if your parents didn't think it would be a good idea for a girl to come overnight with you guys I'd totally understand."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Listen, I'm pretty busy this summer anyway. I'm working almost full-time at the coffee shop and volunteering at the art gallery. I'm also in a summer theater group with Corey, and we're doing stuff together and I'm taking care of stuff for college in the fall. That's something that you might want to think about too."

"Yeah, maybe. But you're not upset? I mean, we still have time this summer to hang out before we go and after we get back."

"Sure."

"Alright. Great."

"Bye, Louis."

"Bye."

So, as the weeks passed by, the gang got ready for their big trip. Louis was getting used to his job in the mailroom and had saved up enough for him to go on the trip. Twitty had long gotten over Amy and was back to normal. Tom stayed home and helped his mom around the house a lot. Tawny and Corey were still together and were having a good time between working together and their social time together. One evening when Louis was hanging out at the mall after work, he was walking out of the video arcade and he got greeted by something very rude. He had no more than taken three steps when he got hit with an old-fashioned water balloon. Louis was dripping and started looking around to see who might have done that. If Louis didn't know better he would have thought that the perpetrator was Larry Beale. But Larry would have been stupid enough to be nearby laughing so Louis could see him. However, Larry was nowhere to be seen. Even though Larry wasn't around, Corey was. He was snickering away with a few of his friends. Louis stared at the group. Then they all looked in different directions and started whistling, signaling their obvious guilt. But Louis didn't get too mad. He could dish it out and he could take it as well. Louis Stevens was one who could really appreciate a good prank. Then Corey himself started walking in Louis' direction. "Hey there, runt."

"What?"

Corey bent down so he was eye-to-eye with Louis and in a mocking sort of voice said, "Aww, what's the matter? Is somebody a little hard of hearing? I called you a runt. Do you know what a runt is? Or do we need a picture?? Hmm?"

Louis' fists were clenched, but he didn't budge. Louis wasn't necessarily a pacifist, but even with his anger to aid his aggression, Corey Richmond would have seriously pounded him. "No, Corey. I know what it is. I don't need any help," Louis said very tense, but calmly. Then Corey rubbed his hand across Louis' scalp messing up his wet hair further. Louis was not amused. He could take a joke or a prank with the best of them. But this guy was just plain mean. Then Corey walked away laughing and was pointing back at Louis for his friends to see.

Louis started walking away. He wanted to get the creep off his mind. Then he saw Tawny walking up. She was coming out of a bookstore. "Hi, Louis," she said.

"Hey."

She put her hand on his shoulder as a friendly gesture, "What happened to you?" referring to Louis' wet state.

Not wanting to tell Tawny that her boyfriend was a jerk he said, "Oh, just stood under the sprinkler again I guess."

She gave a half-grin and said, "Well, I hope you get dry. You don't want to get sick when you go on your big trip."

"Nope. Well, I guess I'll seeya later, Tawny."

"Bye, Louis. Have a good trip if I don't see you!"

"Thanks. Bye," Louis said. He was thinking, Man, I can't wait to get outta here, especially after this. However, that was not the end for Louis and his run-in with Corey. He walked out to the parking lot to get his car, except a little present was left there for him. The whole body of Louis' Nova was covered in cream and toilet paper. Louis thought, Hm, at least he left some whipped cream. Louis then took his finger, wiped it across his windshield and took a taste. He had a pained expression on his face because the cream was not actually whipped cream, but shaving cream. Louis was spitting out the cream and coughing. In the background Louis could hear someone laughing. Yep, it was Corey.

Across the parking lot there was a group of people coming out and there was laughter going on. "What's so funny?" Tawny asked.

"Oh, I was just thinking of a joke," he replied, when he was thinking of the trick he played on Louis. Then he elbowed one of his buddies and said quietly so Tawny couldn't hear, "What a loser. The guy thinks he's Mr. Funny Pants when he plays a few lame pranks at graduation. Who's getting the last laugh now?" He felt pretty confident of himself. However, at the other end of the lot there was a guy, still a little wet, standing next to a much-loved Chevy Nova that was not amused at the recent turn of events. Louis Stevens drove home that day with a rare scowl on his face.


	16. Chapter 16

16.

Louis arrived home in disgust. He walked through the door and his mom saw him. "Louis, sweetie, what's the matter? You're a little damp."

"I don't want to talk about it." He continued on his walk through the house. Then he crossed paths with Ren.

"Louis, Twitty called a little while ago. But don't hog the phone. I'm expecting a call."

"From who? Ruby? Your imaginary boyfriend?" Louis snapped.

"No, from the office of the California Lieutenant Governor. I might get an internship there."

Louis realized the stupid comment he made so he said, "Oh. In that case I'll be quick." Louis went up the stairs to his room and dialed up Twitty. "Hey, man."

"Hey, dude. Whereya been?"

"I was at the mall . . . getting a pair of major dissings."

"What happened?"

"Well, you know Tawny's boyfriend, that Corey guy, the hot-shot?"

"Um, I guess. I don't know about hot-shot, man, but OK."

"Here it is: I come walking out of the arcade and Mr. Big Actor Corey decks me with a water balloon. Childish huh?"

"Wait, Lou, didn't you hurl some water balloons at Tom just last week--" Twitty started.

"Twitty!! That's not the point! We always do that stuff to Tom. That's how our friendship works, man. This was uncalled for and mean. Oh, and get this, I went out to the parking lot to my car and it was covered with toilet paper and shaving cream, which by the way looks but does not taste at all like whipped cream."

"Dude, that's pretty cheap. What did you ever do to him?"

"I dunno, man. I'll bet Tawny doesn't even know this jerk did this stuff to me. What should I do?"

"Gee, man, that's a tough position. You've got a guy that's just picked on you and he happens to be going out with your good friend, but then again you love that friend--" Twitty started again.

"I never said I loved her, Twitty!! Just keep your mouth shut and everything will be fine! I can handle this!"

"Dude, actually one time you did, but anyway, sorry about that. Is there anything I can do?"

"I don't think so, Twitty. I'm just ready to go on our trip. Are you all set to go next week?"

"Yeah, I just gotta get my stuff packed up. This is gonna be soo sweet!"

"Yeah, well I gotta go. Talk to ya later."

The week passed by and Louis and Twitty had their stuff packed in Louis' car and were getting ready to go. Louis just needed to say goodbye to his parents and then they could go pick up Tom. They arrived at the Gribalski house to see Tom still hugging his mom. Louis and Twitty were sitting in the front of the car with sunglasses on and were about to start honking the horn. On the Gribalski front porch Tom was saying, "Doris, I'll think about you the whole time I'm gone. I'll call you as soon as we get there! I love you!"

Now Louis hit the horn. "Tom!! Come on!"

Tom hugged his mom one last time, "Mother, I have to go now. I'll call you!" His mother had a tear streaming down her cheek and she waved goodbye to her son with a handkerchief. Then Tom loaded his suitcase in the trunk and the three of them were off to their big trip to Los Angeles. The windows were rolled down so the gang could look cool, and not just because Louis' air conditioning didn't work. Louis and Twitty had shades on and they were each wearing Hawaiian shirts. Tom was wearing a plaid t-shirt. The tunes were blasting and it was going to be the time of their lives. "Guys, could we turn around? I forgot my chapstick at home!" Tom whined. Louis and Twitty laughed and told Tom that they could get some him once they got to LA.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews again. We're back at it again with Chapter 17. Enjoy!

17.

There it was, a sign reading "Welcome to Los Angeles, California: City of Angels." The guys were grinning as they approached their final destination. Louis and Twitty exchanged a high five and Tom, who held up his hand, was left hanging, as usual when he went for the high five and not the handshake. "We're here, Dude," Twitty said clenching his fist in anticipation. They had arrived.

"Yeah, man, we're here!" Louis exclaimed.

"What shall we do first, home-brothers?" Tom asked.

Louis and Twitty each raised an eyebrow to Tom and Louis said, "We're gonna cruise, man. Maybe get some chicks. But we'll probably get some hot food first. Besides, I'm tired of being in a car all day with you guys!" Twitty smacked Louis as they turned off the interstate and looked for a place to get some grub. After replenishing their systems, the guys made a break for the hotel.

Once checked in, Louis made a leap for the bed. "Ohh! This feels so good," he said. "Let's get some room service in here!!"

"Um, dude, I don't think there's gonna be any room service here. It's a drive-by-night hotel on the outskirts of Los Angeles."

"Oh. Well, then . . ."

Louis never did finish that statement. The guys were so excited to get to Los Angeles that when they finally got there they realized that they didn't even know what they wanted to do. Certainly there was more to do in Los Angeles than there was in Sacramento, wasn't there? Then Tom spoke up, "I say we check out the geology museum! What do you think about that?"

Louis and Twitty frowned and Louis said, "Hmm, I suppose that could be a possibility, but how about the beach?!" They were all in agreement and the guys quickly changed into more appropriate "beach gear." Twitty was in his swim trunks and an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt. Tom was in his sneakers and more casual plaid shirt. Louis had kept his Hawaiian shirt on, grabbed his own swim trunks and put his shades on. He was ready to hit the beach and the beach chicks as he put it. The gang quickly piled back into the car again and were off to try and find a beach. Any beach.

They came up to one with a big sign which read, "The Sunny Side" and they pulled in. Twitty unfastened his surf board which he attached to the top of the car and made a run for the waves. He ripped off his shirt and laid belly-down on his board as he caught a wave. Tom was busy applying far too much sun block and Louis was already out strutting his stuff. He was there to check out some girls. Louis was getting into a very elaborate strut. It was so elaborate and Louis' body was moving so much that a girl about Louis' age came by and said, "Excuse me, sir, are you OK? Your body was moving so unorthodox that I thought there was there something wrong."

Louis was quite embarassed. He took off his sunglasses and said, "No, I'm fine. Just re-adjusting to life on land I guess." Louis took a seat on the beach and took a look at the scenery. Twitty was out on the ocean and surfing quite well. Tom was swatting at flies and Louis realized he was having a crappy time so far. Then Tom walked over and said, "Why the long face, Louis?"

"It's nothing."

"Come on, Louis."

Louis slowly took off his sunglasses and started talking. "Well, I'm not really sure what's going on."

"What do you mean? We're here in Los Angeles and Twitty is out there on the waves and you and I are here chatting on this beach. What do you mean you're not really sure what's going on?"

Louis sighed and said, "I mean, we're more than halfway through the summer now and everybody's gonna be off at college soon. You're going to Harvard and Twitty's going to UCLA I think. Tawny's probably gonna be at some art school and I don't know what I'm gonna do. Part of me kind of wants to go to college but the rest of me, most of me, really wants to play pranks and just have fun. I'm not sure I really want to join the working world. I mean, I don't think my dad lost his magnificent head of hair because he was having fun."

"I see what you mean, Louis. It sounds like you're having doubts about your own self-worth and you're busy comparing yourself with your peers and perhaps your own family and you are overwhelmed by the extravagant expectations, especially being a Stevens, I mean if my father was a fantastic lawyer and my mother was a distinguished state senator and my beautiful sister was as brilliant as Ren and my brother was as . . ."

"Tom!!" Louis screamed, cutting Tom off. "This isn't therapy! I start talking a little bit and suddenly you're psycho-analyzing me or something. That's creepy. You see, this is exactly why I don't talk to you about this stuff. At least Tawny would never overact like you, or me for that matter!" By this point Louis was extremely upset and Tom was trying to calm him down.

Then Twitty came running towards them dripping wet with his surf board under his arm. "Hey guys. What's wrong? I could hear you screaming all the way over there," he said pointing out into the distance. "What's going on?"

Tom put his hand on Louis' shoulder and said, "Our beloved companion is having thoughts of self-doubt."

Louis slapped Tom's hand and said, "I am not. For crying out loud, this is ridiculous. That's it!! I'm going back to the hotel. I'm leaving!" Louis screamed throwing his arms in the air going towards the car.

Twitty and Tom got panicked expressions on their faces and said, "Wait! You can't do that! You're our ride!"


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Hello again. There's not a whole lot of action going on here; just leading up to the thick of the plot (Yes, there actually is one!). Worry not, the story does get more exciting from here. I'd also like to send out a personal thanks to Christina for all your wonderful reviews. Thank you very much! Glad to hear that someone's enjoying this! Without further delay, here's Chapter 18.

18.

The next day, in sunny Southern California, the guys were having quite a good time. "Mine was farther!"

"No way, dude!" Twitty cried.

"Look at that! My straw wrapper's all the way over there! How can you say that?! Where's our judge? Tom!" Louis shouted.

Tom walked over and examined the straw wrappers that Louis and Twitty had blown off their straws. "I rule in favor of Louis. Tough luck, Alan."

Louis threw his arms in the air in victory. Twitty grabbed a few more straws and exclaimed, "Rematch!"

Then they blew their wrappers again, this time into the stomache of the restaurant manager standing nearby who was not entirely pleased with Louis and Twitty's little competition. He cleared his throat, "Ahem. Good morning, boys. Are we having fun?"

Louis looked around because he knew it was a loaded question. "Um, no?"

"If you boys don't stop that I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Sorry about that, sir. Won't happen again," Twitty said. The manager walked away and the guys pretty much figured that they may as well move on to something or somewhere else. They piled into the car and went on their way. After all, it had only been the breakfast hour. "Dude, that was kinda fun," Twitty said, reminiscing already.

"Excellent job again, Louis," Tom interjected.

Louis tried to put on his modest face, "Yeah, well . . . I try."

"Hey, guys, lets see if we can rent one of those boats and go into the bay a little bit," Twitty suggested.

"Yeah, that could be something. Hey, Tom, you know about boating stuff, right?" Louis asked.

Tom sat up straight in the car and tried to talk like a sailor, "I sure do, Matey. Me's put a whale of miles behinds me at the helm of de USS Doris." He saluted.

"Easy, Tom, we'll just need you to keep us from sinking or going off into the Pacific or getting attacked, OK?" Louis said.

"That I can do," Tom responded.

"To the docks!" Louis and Twitty said as they pointed forward in anticipation.

Tom, not wanting to break the mood, but needed to in order to correct them, "Actually, gents, the docks are _that_ way."

Later that day . . .

"Louis! Slow down! You're gonna hit that boat!" Tom screamed.

The guys rented a little motorboat and were zipping across the bay. It was Louis' turn to steer the boat. Tom and Twitty were beginning to think that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. They should have known the statistics were bad. There's already too many boating-related deaths per year. And that's even without Louis. "Oh wow! I didn't even think boats could go this fast!" Louis cried.

"Hey, dude, I think maybe it's time to ease up a little. I mean, there might be kids out here," Twitty warned. Unfortunately, Louis didn't really seem to hear. He just kept going. Luckily, after awhile he burned all the gas out and they were stuck in the bay. "Good job, Louis," Twitty said.

He pointed his finger, "Hey! This was not my fault!"

"Who was steering?" Tom questioned.

Louis shifted his eyes, "Well, well, I uh, I, Hey! You're the boating expert, Tom! You should have known!"

Louis and Tom were eyeing each other and it wasn't looking pretty. So, Twitty stepped inbetween them to make sure nobody got hurt. "Guys, guys, this isn't going to help any. If we just keep a sharp eye out, maybe we'll see some other boat and maybe they'll be able to help us." Twitty started looking out on the beautiful blue horizon and behold, there was another boat in the not-too-far distance. Twitty and Tom stood up and waved their arms and screamed. Louis, on the other hand, jumped up and down, rocking the boat, and he eventually fell out and into the water. Twitty and Tom were cackling. This got the attention of the other boat and they came towards them and bailed them out of their mess. They attached their out-of-gas boat to the one that worked, and they were saved. They returned to shore shortly thereafter and they made Louis buy them dinner.


	19. Chapter 19

19.

"Louis! What's for breakfast?" Tom called out the next morning.

Louis was still asleep. When Tom started nudging him, he awoke. "Huh?"

"What's for breakfast?"

"Have we got any more pizza left from last night?" Tom shook his head. "Then no," Louis said.

"Well, then I'm going to go get some food for the next few days. May I borrow the car keys?" Tom said holding his hand out.

Louis, back under his covers and probably half-way asleep, reached for the keys on the nightstand and tossed them in the general direction of Tom. He picked them up and was about to go out. But by then Twitty was up and moving. "Hey, Alan, do you wanna come?"

Twitty was sitting at the end of his bed, sitting straight up, and was facing the TV and said, "I don't think so, Tom, I think I'm gonna watch some music videoes or something." Tom chuckled and left. So, Louis kept sleeping, Twitty was watching TV, and Tom returned a couple hours later with some groceries. "Hey, Tom! What took you so long?"

Tom was suppressing a slight smile. "Well, guys, it look me a little while to get all the stuff I needed. Oh, and I was a little side-tracked if you know what I mean."

Twitty crossed his eyebrows. "Tom, what in the world are you talking about?"

"Lets just say I have a little date for tonight."

Suddenly Louis sat up in his bed, "Gee, Tom, I didn't know your mom was here!"

Tom set the groceries on the table. "Hardy Har Har, Louis," Tom said.

Twitty was grinning wide and said very sarcastically, "Aww, Louis, our little Tom is all grown up!" Then Louis crawled out of his bed and he and Twitty surrounded Tom and gave him some friendly jabs.

So, that night the boys got Tom ready for his big date, which actually wasn't his mom, much to the disbelief of Louis and Twitty. They made sure their buddy was dressed and smelling nice for what may have been his first date. Of course, Louis hadn't helped matters too much. Tom was standing over the sink using his mouthwash when Louis came up from behind him. "Hey there Tom, good buddy!" Louis exclaimed, slapping Tom on the back causing him to swallow his mouthwash. "Whoops. Sorry 'bout that, big guy."

Twitty was the main one helping Tom get ready and then later on Louis walked out of the bathroom wearing an ugly red plaid suit with a giant goofy flower on his coat pocket. Twitty and Tom both froze and stared. "What?!" Louis asked innocently.

"Louis, what are you doing?"

"Do you actually think that we're going to let you go on your first date and not take at least me along?!" Louis insisted.

Tom and Twitty turned their eyebrows up and Twitty put his hand on Louis' shoulder and said, "Lou, you're my best friend and you know I'd do anything for you," he began. "But for the sake of humanity, I can't let you go out like that." They all laughed and they pushed Tom out the door for his date.

So, Tom went out on his date that night and the boys watched movies on TV and Louis remained in his ugly plaid suit.

Meanwhile, back in Sacramento, Corey was on the phone with one of his pals as a devious plot was about to be devised. "Hey, Chuck, it's Corey."

"'Sup man."

"I'm trying to figure out how to do it."

"What are you talking about? Do what?"

"You know. Get the Dean chick into the sack. I've been trying for months. The opportunity keeps coming up to do so, but things keep popping up. I mean, this one's taken longer than usual."

"Listen, Corey, I know your abilities. You'll get her. You just have to wait for the right time. You've nailed lots of chicks before. I have full faith in you."

"Thanks, Chuck. Say, what about next week?"

"What about next week?"

"Lets have a big party. Booze, smokes, we'll have it all."

"Sounds good."

"Well, I gotta go. We've got some plans to make," Corey said. "Bye."

A/N: OK, things might get a little steamier than they have been. Hope everyone will be alright with this. I promise it won't be bad! I'll try to keep this as PG as I can. Just a note of warning. So long for now.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Alright, I'm back. I would have updated a couple days ago but my computer has been down. But I'm back and here's Chapter 20. I hope it's not too bad!

20.

"Louis, pay the man," Twitty said nudging Louis.

Louis was scrambling through his pockets.

"Louis??" Tom asked.

The guys had gone out to eat on their third night out and they had gone to a fancy restaurant, or at least one that didn't give the patrons disposable utensils. Louis said he would buy dinner for the guys. However, he forgot all his cash in the hotel room. He had a panicked look on his face and Tom and Twitty weren't looking especially happy with their buddy. Then Louis' face lit up. "Ah ha!" he said holding up a credit card. "Found it!" Tom and Twitty let out a sigh of relief. Louis gave the card to the waiter and he was off to get the bill all set. Louis wiped sweat from his brow. "Whew."

"Hey, Lou, I didn't know you had a credit card."

"I don't, it's my dad's."

"Your dad let you borrow his credit card?"

"Yeah, well, um, he doesn't really know he let me borrow it, if you get my drift."

"You stole your dad's credit card?! Louis, the bill for dinner might be close to $100. What are you going to do when your dad pays the credit card bill next month?"

"Well, I'm hoping to be moved off to college by then."

"I didn't think you were going to college, man," Twitty asked.

"Yeah, well to avoid my dad, I might just have to go!" Twitty, Tom, and Louis were all laughing as the waiter returned with the bill for Louis to sign for.

"You never quit, man," Twitty said. Louis proudly shrugged his shoulders and they took off. "Where to next, bud?"

"Lets go do some putt-putt golf," Louis suggested, and they were off. The gang arrived at a nearby miniature golf course with a big sign that read, "Ziggy's Putt-Putt-Pan-O-Rama." The attendant at the front desk asked Louis for money for three games. Louis quickly looked at Twitty and Tom because he certainly didn't have any cash, but . . . he did have that credit card! So, the card was swiped again, and they took off running for the course. There wasn't an enormous amount of trouble caused except when Louis hit his golf ball too hard, causing it to bounce off the green, ricochet off the windmill, bounce down the hill, and in mid-bounce land in the mouth of the yawning golf course manager. Needless to say, the manager was not as amused as Louis, Twitty and Tom were, who were laughing heartily at the event. The manager was looking pretty mad, and the guys dropped their clubs and darted across several of the holes and interrupting several games while in a mad dash for the parking lot. Once they escaped, they figured maybe it was time to turn in for the night.

By the time they reached the hotel, Twitty asked Louis, "So, Lou, you're really gonna go to college after all?"

"Maybe. I mean, I know it's really late to be doing this, but I actually did apply."

"Really?? Where?" Tom asked.

"Um, the University of Western California at Anaheim. You know, UWCA. Right by Disneyland."

"Hey, you'll be nearby then," Twitty said. Twitty was going to go to UCLA.

"Not me! I'm at Harvard!" Tom proudly announced.

"Yeah, Tom, we know. You're Mr. 4.0 GPA, 1600 SAT, blah blah blah," Louis said.

"Easy, Lou," Twitty said trying to settle him down. "What's up, man?"

"Nothing, lets watch a movie tonight," Louis said.

"Alright then."

The guys retired to the hotel room for the night. Tom went to bed early. Apparently "Black Sheep" was a little too much for him in one night. When the movie was over, it was about midnight and Louis and Twitty were pretty tired. Louis crawled into his bed, and Twitty into his. Twitty turned out the light and thought for a second. Then the light was back on. "Wait a minute. Lou, isn't Tawny going to the UWCA too?"

Louis rolled over, looked Twitty in the eye, and rolled back over and went to sleep. And the light was out again.

Back in Sacramento:

"Dean residence, Tawny speaking."

"Hi Tawny. It's me," Corey said.

"Hey there, cutey. What's up?"

"Not much. I was feeling a little bummed out, with the summer theater group kind of flopping, you know?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I was just thinking about having a party sometime next week."

"A party? That sounds cool."

"So you wanna come?"

"Of course. Why would I not?"

Corey grinned fiendishly and said, "Great. It'll be worth it. Bye."

"Bye."

A/N: I hope there's no such place as the University of Western California at Anaheim because I just made it up. So long for now.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: I was going to get this updated a little sooner, but this has been a very busy week. I hope no one minds the short chapter. We're getting to the real meat of the story, so hang in there! Thanks! Enjoy -- sola gratia.

21.

Well, it was finally time for the week of fun and relaxation to come to an end for Louis, Twitty and Tom. They packed up their clothes and other belongings and were cramming them all into Louis' car. They paid at the front desk, put on their shades and prepared themselves to return to the open road. "Man, this was fun," Louis reminisced.

"Yeah, I'm glad we did this before everybody left for college," Twitty said. They began their 380 mile trip back to Sacramento. The tunes were blasting on the radio and Tom was fast asleep. Louis, behind the wheel was anxious to get back to Sacramento. He had something to deal with, and not just his dad about the credit card, or his boss down in the mailroom. They arrived back in Sacramento in the late afternoon and after dropping Twitty and Tom off, Louis went home and took a brief nap, and for Louis, four hours was brief. When he woke up, he got some of his things together, including a big hook and some rope. He was off to Tawny's house.

It was dark by the time he reached her house. He snuck through the backyard and was standing right below her window. He took the hook, attached it with the rope and threw it up towards the roof. It got caught on the peak of the roof. Louis hoped he wouldn't weigh too much to break off and go falling to the ground. So, he started climbing up the side of the house. He reached Tawny's window which was open, Hmm, couldn't aimed for the window could I? Louis thought. The window was open, but the drapes were down. He very carefully and silently pushed the drapes aside and took a peek inside. Drats! Louis thought. She was making out with Corey. Then he heard her voice.

"Just a minute, young man. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to the restroom and I'll be right back. She winked at him and disappeared. Corey sat in a chair and reclined. Then he could hear something rustling from behind the drapes. He quickly pulled the drapes aside and found Louis.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here," he said about six inches from Louis' face.

"Oh, uh, hi."

"Whacha doin' there, Fluffy?" he said running his hand through Louis' curly, messed up hair.

"Just hangin' out . . . what? Fluffy? What?"

"Get lost, Fluffy."

Louis got defensive. "Hey! Don't call me Fluffy!" he said pointing.

"Listen up, squirt. I'm trying to get some, alright? Now I need you to buzz off."

"But I have something very important that I need to . . ." Louis began.

"Too bad," Corey said while pulling out a pocket knife. "I'm kinda busy." He started cutting Louis' rope.

"Wait! No! See, I'm goin' right now!" Louis said freaking out.

"Too late." The rope was cut and Louis found himself back on ground level having landed in a bush. Fluffy? he kept thinking to himself. Louis limped to his car and drove off. The first song that came on the radio was "Summer of '69." When the song reached the lyrics, ". . . those were the best days of my life," Louis turned off the radio quickly.

Later that night:

"What?!" Twitty exclaimed.

"Yeah! The guy cut my rope!" Louis cried.

"No, I mean you were just hanging outside Tawny's window?"

Louis hesitated. "A little."

"Dude, this is heavy. I mean, wow. You gotta talk to her. Yeah, Corey's being pretty mean to you. If you're not gonna tell her that you like her, then at least get her to try and get Corey to quit trying to kill you."

"Maybe. I'm just a little frustrated. I mean, if I hadn't been a dork right before prom, she woulda gone with me and this crap with Mr. Mean Actor Pants wouldn't be going on."

"Hey, Lou, I gotta go."

"Alright, man. Later." And they were off the phone. Then about two minutes later it rang again. "What?" Louis answered, thinking that it was Twitty.

"Hmm, that's an interesting, yet rude way to answer the phone," Tawny said.

"Oh sorry about that. I mean. Hello?"

"That's better. Louis, what are you doing tomorrow night?"

Louis, his eyes in thought said, "Um, probably nothing."

"Do you want to come to a party at Corey's house?"

"Oh." Now Louis had to really think. "OK."

"Great. I'll see you then."

"Bye."

"Bye, Louis."


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: Here we are again with Chapter 22. I look at my calendar and by the time this gets posted it will be Election Day. I encourage my voting-age readers to go out there and vote! Aside from US current events I have nothing else to report and I hope you all enjoy Chapter 22. :)

22.

Louis was actually trying to look nice for the party. He stood in front of his mirror and checked over his wardrobe. He was wearing a blue plaid shirt with a white one underneath it. He thought, nah, it's too warm. He just found a nice t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. Then he changed again. Why change what's always worked? he thought. So, he reverted back to his Hawaiian shirt. It was just after nightfall and he quickly said goodbye to his parents. But first, he called Twitty to make sure he was coming along, just in case there was trouble. It was affirmative. They'd meet at the party. When he arrived, Louis waited in his car for Twitty to show up. When he saw Twitty coming up walking around the corner, Louis jumped out. "Hey, you made it!"

"Yeah, dude, I didn't want to miss this. C'mon. Let's go in."

Music could be heard booming all the way from the street. There was a horde of people in Corey's house. Louis and Twitty could barely move around in there. They went in the kitchen looking for a little snack. There were plenty of chips to eat. There was also plenty of beer. Just tubs full of beer. Almost everybody was drinking something. One guy pulled out a beer and handed it to Louis. He declined. "Hey, Twitty, I'm gonna go look for Tawny and tell her." Twitty patted him on the back, wished him luck and sent him on his way. Louis decided that he was going to tell Tawny how he felt.

So, he went searching all over the place, but no sign of her. Having already had a few beverages before he left the house, Louis had to go to the bathroom. After waiting for a few drunks to finish their duties in the bathroom, Louis walked in. Once he finished his own business and while he was drying his hands, he overheard something through the door. He cringed because he could tell it was Corey. But what was he saying? Louis placed his ear up against the door and could faintly hear him saying, "Yeah, the chick couldn't make it. Said something about getting called in to work. Sounds like a load of crap to me. So, tomorrow I'm gonna nail her. She doesn't suspect a thing."

"What if she resists?" another voice asked.

"I got some pills. I'll drug the hottie up if I need to, but hey, who could resist me? I'm the best-looking guy around."

Louis was in shock. He didn't know what to do or say. He was in the middle of unlocking the bathroom door when Corey swung it open. "What are you doing here, Fluffy?" he asked Louis.

"I was, uhh, just, you know, opening the door."

"No, I mean, why are you at this party?" Louis looked blank. Corey started swearing and said, "Ahh, man. I'll bet Tawny asked you didn't she?" Louis still didn't answer. He still had a shocked look to him. Then Corey got suspicious and grabbed Louis by the collar. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have heard a word being said on the other side of this door, would you?"

Very nervously, Louis blurted out, "I did not hear anything about you and Tawny!"

He pulled Louis closer. "So you did, huh?" He threw Louis into his buddy Chuck and said, "Bring him here." They were brought into a dark, unoccupied room. Louis asked what they were going to do, but Corey just kicked him. Louis started squirming when they were wrapping him up with some rope. "Hey, what's with the limp, Fluffy?" Corey asked very condescendingly, already knowing the answer.

Louis squinted one eye and said, "It's nothing. I just took a hard fall the other night."

Corey tightened the rope. "Gee, that's too bad." Then he and his friend Chuck carried Louis out and stuffed him in a closet and gagged his mouth. "Now you just hang out here for awhile, OK?" Louis didn't answer, not that he could and just stood there in the dark closet.

After a couple of hours they party began to die down little by little. Perhaps it was getting late, or perhaps most of the people had taken in too much alcohol. Whichever it was, the party was clearly wrapping up. Twitty was still there. He kind of danced around the house looking for people. He wasn't really looking for anyone in particular at first. But after awhile he began to wonder where Louis was, or Tawny for that matter. Maybe they hit it off and are talking somewhere, he thought, but maybe not. Finally he asked someone in the hallway if they had seen either Louis Stevens or Tawny Dean. The person shook his head and staggered off. But this was right in front of the closet where Louis had been stashed. Unable to open the door because he was tied up and gagged, Louis began beating on it with his head viciously. Twitty may not be the brightest one in the world, but a beating sound coming from a closet is definitely suspicious. He opened the door to find Louis all tied up. "Dude, what happened to you?"

Louis made some inaudible noises because Twitty asked him that without having taken out the gag. "Hey, there's something in your mouth. Maybe if I take it out you'd be able to talk better, man."

"Ya think?!" Louis blurted out. "Now get me out of this. We've got to get out of here," Louis said bouncing up and down, though still tied.

Twitty quickly untied Louis and asked him what happened. "I can't tell you now. We've just got to get outta here," Louis said.

Louis darted off leaving Twitty behind, but not before Twitty was caught by Chuck, but not Corey. "Hey you! Somebody went to an awful lot of trouble to tie him up like that. It was a good job. Just who do you think you are?" he demanded. When Twitty didn't answer, Chuck said, "What's your name?"

Twitty definitely didn't recognize him, so he figured he'd be safe by not giving his real name. "The name's Honeytoast. Lars Honeytoast."

Chuck started to threaten Twitty. "No you're not. You're the Twitty guy. C'mere!!" Then Twitty made a mad dash for the door. Louis was already in the car and had it running when he saw Twitty come running out of the house. "Twitty, come on!!" Twitty opened the door as fast as he could and before he could even buckle his seat belt Louis had spun the tires and taken off.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N:  Alright, we're back.  Sorry about the longer-than-usual wait, but here it is:

23.

"Dude, that was kinda scary," Twitty said.

"I think it's gonna get even scarier," Louis informed him. Louis proceeded to tell Twitty just what he heard of the plan that was being devised by Corey to carry out on Tawny. Twitty couldn't believe it.

"You were right, man. This guy isn't just mean sometimes, he's evil. What're we gonna do?"

"I'm going to warn Tawny tomorrow before it's too late," Louis said.

"Will she believe you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's just that you've come up with some pretty wild ideas before. She might just think you're exaggerating about something."

"Twitty! I know what I heard! If I heard anything else, why would they have tied me up and stuck me in a closet with all those moth balls?!" Louis exclaimed.

"Good point. Warn her tomorrow. If you need any help just let me know."

"No problem, man. Here's your house," Louis said as they pulled up to the Twitty house. "Talk to you tomorrow."

"Later." And Louis drove off to try to get some sleep.

However, sleep was not coming easy for Louis. He felt like he'd had his life threatened that night. It was like when one gets into a car wreck and is still in so much shock that one just can't get to sleep. Louis was going through that. He was struggling between trying to figure out what to say to Tawny about the whole Corey ordeal or if he should try to get some of his own feelings out. Unfortunately he just could not decide and still could not sleep. By the time it was 7:00 am, he gave up and got out of bed.

"Son! You're up pretty early for a Saturday," his dad exclaimed when he saw Louis in the kitchen.

"Oh, just thought I'd try it for a change," he said. Louis poured a bowl of cereal and went into the living room to watch some cartoons. He tried to act normal, but when trying to lift the spoon up to his face, it was shaking considerably. Yep, he was nervous. This also caught his dad's attention.

"Son, are you OK? You're shaking."

"Oh, uh, that's just my morning spasm there, Dad. Nothing to worry about." His dad turned an eyebrow up, said OK, and went away.

Louis watched TV for a few hours to try and ease his mind. But after he ate 5 bowls of "Sugar Frosted Nuts and Junk" Louis was feeling a little sick. Maybe four bowls was enough, he thought. He turned the TV off and walked through the house. Then he saw Ren coming down the stairs.

"Louis, what are you doing up before 3:00pm on a Saturday?"

Louis became very defensive and screamed very loudly, "Why is it that just because I'm up on a Saturday morning that the world is coming to an end, huh?! Everything is fine! Just fine! I don't need any help with this!!" It was a typical Louis rant. He had thrown his arms up in the air and stomped up the stairs back to his room. Ren rolled her eyes and continued on her way, oblivious to what had angered her brother so much.

Louis took a shower and got dressed. He was only putting things off now. He put on his usual attire and went down to his car to drive to Tawny's house. Once he arrived there, he didn't get out of his car yet. He was sweating. Big time. He was still really shy around Tawny when it came to any serious conversation that might have anything to do with his feelings. He cleared his throat and stepped out of the car and slammed the door, but his loose Hawaiian shirt got caught in the door and he was trying desperately to pull it out. Then Tawny, who had been watching from a window for a couple of minutes came out. Louis saw her out of the corner of his eye and frantically pulled his shirt out in big yank and tore part of it. Trying to act cool, as if everything was fine, started waving and called out, "H-Hey th-there, Tawny. W-What's happening?"

"Nothing. My mom said there was a guy sitting in a crappy-looking car on the street that was staring at the house. It sounded like a description of you. I think the proper question is, What's happening with you?" she questioned.

Louis' mind went blank. Suddenly he didn't know what to say or how to say it. "Ohh, umm, I was, um . . ." He continued on this circle of words for several more seconds and Tawny had turned an eyebrow up. Then Louis finally came up with something to say. "Well, you see, I was just in the uh, neighborhood and I saw your house here . . . and I was uh, wondering if you um, wanted to see a movie today?"

"Hmm, a movie sounds nice, but I'm working a few hours this afternoon and then I'm going to Corey's house tonight at about 8:00. But thanks for coming all the way out here just to ask," she said with a smile.

"Oh! But you can't go to his house!" Louis blurted out.

A little confused, Tawny asked, "And why not?"

"Why not? Um, that's a very good question, it's that, uh, you know, you and I just don't do very much together anymore. Just the two of us."

"Louis, I already promised Corey I'd come over tonight because I couldn't come to his party last night. Oh, by the way, how did the party go?"

Louis thought about being tied up and locked in the closet. "Oh, not too eventful," was his response.

"Anyway, I should probably get going . . ." Tawny began to say.

"But you can't!" Louis blurted out again.

"Can't what?" she asked.

"Can't . . uh, go to Corey's house tonight. Let's see a movie, for real," Louis pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Louis, I can't. I already promised. But, I have to admit, I think this is a little cute," she said running her thin fingers through Louis' wavy, messed-up hair.

Confused, Louis said, "What's cute?"

"You're jealous of me being with Corey."

Louis began laughing hard, too hard. He laughed so hard that he was trying desperately to cover up his feelings. "Whoa! Hold on there, Ha ha ha. That's a good one, Tawn! Ha ha ha! No way am I jealous here. No siree, Bob. Nope. Not jealous. No jealousy here," he said. Tawny stared at him because she could see right through him. Then Louis confessed a few feelings. Taking a hard gulp he said, "OK, here's the deal. I gotta know something. If I hadn't been acting stupid at the end of the school year and wasn't asking a bunch of girls I should never have even fooled with and if I had asked you before Corey did, would you have gone to the prom with me instead of him?" He said this and bit his lip in nervous anticipation.

Tawny didn't quite know what to say. She rolled her eyes back and forth looking for an answer. "Louis, I can't say. Everything happens for a reason, you know that. It's hard to say what things would've been like had some events happened differently. I just don't know. I think you're a great friend and a real sweetie. But I'm with Corey now and we're doing pretty good I guess you could say. I'm sorry, Louis," she said with a very sincere look on her face.

Louis gave a little half-smirk to give her a little assurance that he was not too heart-broken. "OK," he said.

Tawny felt bad for Louis. She looked him in the eye and said, "I'm sorry, Louis. I've probably put a real damper on your day now."

Louis smirked again and said, "No, I'll cheer up. Me and Twitty were gonna shoot off some fireworks at Wexler's house anyway. I'll be fine."

Tawny chuckled and said, "Alright then. I know it took a lot of guts for you to come out here and say something about your feelings. Thanks. But, I've got to get going. After work I'm still going to Corey's house at 8, but maybe I'll talk to you later?"

Louis blurted out one last time, "But he's gonna . . ."

"He's gonna what?" she asked.

Louis held back for a second, "Oh, nothing."

Louis saw her walk back into her house. When he heard the door close, his heart sank.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N:  Thanks to all my new reviewers!  I'm glad there's still a few people out there reading this!  Anyway, this is a rather short chapter so there might be another one coming up in the near future to balance everything out!  Here we go -- enjoy!

24.

Less than an hour after Louis returned to his house he had the whole group meet there for the plan of action. Twitty and Tom had just arrived and they were meeting in Louis' room. "What's going on here, Louis?" Tom inquired. "And what are you wearing?"

Louis was dressed in camouflage and was wearing army boots. The army field helmet was sitting on a nearby table with some leaves and branches attached to it, adding for more camouflage. "Gentleman, we are here this afternoon to plan for the big night. Tonight, we are attacking. One of our beloved is going to be in danger and it's going to be up to us to take that danger away from our beloved," Louis announced.

"What are you talking about?" Tom was still in the dark.

"Tom, our dear Tawny is going to be in harm's way tonight, only she doesn't know it yet. I couldn't bring myself to tell her what was going to happen so that's why we're doing this.  And these are desperate times. And desperate times call for desperate measures," Louis said as he began walking over to his closet.

"What do you mean by desperate?" Tom asked.

Louis opened the door and there stood Beans who was chomping on a piece of bacon. "Hi, guyth!" he exclaimed with his famous lisp still evident. 

"Oh my goodness, I didn't realize things were so bad!" Twitty said.

"Like I said, desperate times call for desperate measures. That's why we have Beans with us today.  So, gentlemen, tonight we are going to be pulling out all the stops. We are going to do everything that is necessary to prevent this heinous act. Mr. Corey Richmond is planning on taking advantage of our dear Tawny and he will use all means necessary to do so. Therefore, we must use all means necessary to prevent him from taking advantage of her. I need all the help I can get. Are we all in this?" Louis asked the group.

The other three stood up and put their hands in the middle of the circle, with one chubby hand covered in bacon grease on top. They all made a war whoop. They were going to do this. Louis lowered a map, their plan of attack, and extended a pointer and the group was getting ready for the attack. Louis listed off all the supplies. They spent a couple hours going over the plan, organized the supplies and made sure everyone knew their assignment. "The main plan is just to get her out of there, bottom line. Do we all understand?" Louis addressed his team. They all nodded. Louis then said, "Alright everyone, go home and get some rest and be back here and ready go at 9900 hours." Twitty, Tom and Beans all looked around at each other wondering what Louis meant.

"What?" Twitty asked.

"Whichever one 7:00 is," Louis said.

"Oh. You mean 1900 hours, in military time," Tom corrected.

"Shut up and go home! Just be back here at 99, er 19, 7:00!" Louis exclaimed.

This was it. It had to be done.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: Well, here's another chapter but another short one. Hope it flows well. Enjoy!

25.

The sun was on the horizon. Louis was standing on the Stevens' front lawn with his arms crossed, still in his camo garb, with the foliage covered helmet and he even had a corn cob pipe, reminiscent of the famous General Douglas MacArthur. The pipe, however, was not lit. It was one of those bubble pipes. He was pacing back and forth with his arms behind his back. Then he saw Twitty coming up the sidewalk. They waved to each other. "I'm here, man," Twitty said.

"Good, now we're just waiting for Tom and Beans," Louis said. They waited a few minutes and then they saw Tom approaching. They exchanged handshakes and then they were waiting on only one. Louis was a little frustrated. "Where's Beans?! We've got a job to do and he's probably just playing around!" he cried.

Twitty put his arm on Louis' shoulder and said, "Lou, just try to settle down, OK? I'm sure he'll be here."

Louis paced around the yard. He walked by the bushes and then Beans jumped out from them scaring Louis. "I'm here!" he exclaimed.

Louis, who was knocked to the ground said, "Beans! What are you doing?! You're just playing around here! This is serious business. I can't afford to have you be a screw-up. Do you want to be a big screw-up in life, Beans?"

"Not really. Do you?" Beans shot back.

Louis was a little taken aback. "We don't have time for this. We don't have any time to lose. Everyone, to the Nova!" Louis pointed and they were off to do their job.

"Is everything in the trunk?" Twitty asked as he stepped into the car.

"Everything's there. There's some stuff tied to the top, and I already stashed some stuff at his house, like the lights," Louis explained.

"Cool," he said.

Louis turned the key to the car, but it wouldn't start. "Not now," he mumbled under his breath. He hit the gas pedal hard, but nothing. Louis cursed his car and got out to kick it. That did the trick. He threw his arms up in a triumphant manner, hopped back in the car and drove off. They were going to get there early and hide, just so they'd be ready and have enough time to set up the equipment once night fell.

At that very same time, Tawny was hanging up her apron at the coffee shop. She waved goodbye to some of her co-workers. Her shift was over and she was going to drive across town to go spend the evening with Corey. If she only knew what was planned for her.

Also, at that same time at Corey's house, he was chatting with his buddy Chuck. "You can get on outta here. I can handle it from here. The chick's probably getting off work just about now. I don't want anyone here when I do this," Corey explained to him.

"No problem, I understand." Corey was preparing for the evening of hijinks. He cracked his knuckles and made sure there was beer in the refrigerator. The night was only beginning.


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: OK, OK, I'm finally back. I know that it has been a very long time but due to many circumstances in my life I have been hindered from updating before now. I hope no one is upset and I plan to get the final couple chapters up much more quickly. Thanks for your patience.

26.

It was 8:00 pm. Louis' Chevy Nova was parked a few houses away from Corey's. Louis was hiding in the neighbor's bushes, just waiting. As soon as Tawny showed up, they could start getting ready. A few minutes after eight, he saw Tawny's car turn from around the corner. Before she knocked on the door, she ran her fingers through her hair and then she knocked. Corey was there within seconds to answer. She entered and Louis sent out a whistle for the guys. They heard it and scurried over from their hiding places. They huddled and made their final preparations. Louis instructed, "Now, Twitty, when I come running out of the house, that is, if I make it that far, I want you to play track 4 from the CD on the loudspeakers turned all the way up, got it? But only when I come running out of the house and I say it's time, got it?"

"Got it."

Then he gave Tom and Beans their final instructions and positions. Twitty was to be on the sidewalk, directly across from the front door. Tom and Beans were to take positions just to the left and right of the house. They also had one station for desperation across the street. Then they moved the car a little closer in case they needed a quick getaway. Since Tawny was already in, Louis took a single water balloon with him and took a seat beside a bush next to the front door of the house.

Inside the house, Tawny and Corey shared a hug and a little kiss. "Hi, sweetie," Tawny said.

"Hey there. Can I get you something to drink?"

"No thanks. I've been working around drinks all day," Tawny explained.

"No," Corey said taking ahold of her. "I mean, a drink."

"You mean, like beer or something?" He nodded. "I don't think so, Corey."

Then his eyes appeared a little red. "I think so."

Tawny was a little creeped out by this time. "Um, I think I'll just get some juice to drink," she said quickly moving to the refrigerator, viewing all the beer that was in there and shutting the door just as quickly. "This'll do."

Corey was not especially amused. Corey decided to go with another way. He cooled off and gave Tawny one of his charming glances. It was saying I'm sorry, but I sure am cute so you can't resist me. "I'm sorry about that, Tawn. Can you ever forgive me?" He almost stuck out his bottom lip to get some sympathy from her.

Tawny rolled her eyes and said, "You're pathetic," and kissed him to let him know he was forgiven. At that very moment, Louis was peeking in through a window. He needed to know what was going on at every moment. The mood was very tense. The sun was setting on the day and every movement was crucial. "Louis, I have to go to the bathroom!" he heard over his walkie-talkie.

Frantically, Louis reached for the gizmo and said very tensely, but not very loudly, "Beans, we have to focus here. Focus, focus, focus. Do it quickly and don't ever call me on this again unless there's a problem. I can't be bothered. I need to watch every move that goes on in that house. Now go do your little business and give the walkie-talkie back to Twitty!" As Louis finished saying that, he heard something come from inside. It sounded like a slap. A slap? What could that be? he thought. He quickly moved to get a better picture, although it was hard because he was still positioned outside and looking through windows. He looked in and saw Tawny clutching her cheek. That jerk slapped her! Louis was burning mad, but he couldn't do anything. Yet. He saw him grab her by the arm and take her from the kitchen down the hallway. Louis took off running to where that hallway would have stopped. There was a room at the end of the hallway and Louis looked through one of its windows. He could see Tawny, caught in Corey's grip, struggling to get free.

Inside the room the conversation was difficult. "Let me go!" Tawny demanded.

"No."

"Let me go!" she said again, this time a little louder.

"No, now get on that bed!" he said throwing her down. When she hit the bed, he locked the door so she wouldn't be able to slip away and escape. They continued in a physical struggle that Tawny was losing.

Louis knew this was the time. He abandoned his position from outside the window. He couldn't hear the conversation that was going on inside, but he knew it was his time to act. He got on the walkie talkie and sent a message to Twitty. "This is it, buddy. Get ready. I'm about to move in. Over." Twitty returned with an "Over" and then Louis turned it off. There would be no distractions when he made the big move. He took off his helmet and sunglasses. He ran across to the front door, which luckily was still unlocked. Louis didn't really want to break a window to get in. Not only would it hurt, but Corey would definitely come after him and Louis might not be prepared. Once he was inside, Louis very carefully tip-toed through the hallway until he found a closed door. He carefully tried to turn it, without making any noise, but he could tell it was locked. From there he could hear a muffled scream and another slap. He wiped some sweat from his forehead and carefully walked down the hallway. He was going to break it down. He was going to run full speed, break it down with his left shoulder and protect the water balloon with his right hand. Once he was in position, he went running at full speed and crack! The door broken and Louis stumbled and hit the floor, but bounced up. Corey's attention was suddenly drawn away from the frightened Tawny.

"Fluffy!" he cried in shock.

"Sorry to disturb you, folks, I'm just here to check the gas meter," Louis said as he hurled the water balloon at Corey. A direct hit! "Run Tawny!" Then Louis bolted out the door. Corey wiped the water off his face, slapped Tawny one more time and ran after Louis. Once he was gone, Tawny didn't run, but instead called the police.

In full stride, Louis ran through the open doorway, out of the house, jumped down the front steps and screamed, "NOW, TWITTY, NOW!"

Corey jumped down the steps himself to watch Louis get away and be greeted by a flood of lights, a few more water balloons, and the song "Stars and Stripes Forever," the national American march being played just as he made it outside and was getting hit by those balloons. The lights mentioned were installed by Louis that afternoon on the roof of Corey's house, up in trees, and anywhere else Louis could put them. They were so bright, that they almost completely illuminated the front yard.


	27. Chapter 27

A/N: Alright, I'm back once again. This is the second-to-last chapter of the epic. I hope these long breaks for the final chapters isn't throwing anyone off. I would have put these last ones up much sooner but things have been really crazy for me the last couple months. I hope this hasn't been a burden for anyone. OK, rambling is done; enjoy Chapter 27!

27.

It had begun. Corey was attacked from all sides by water balloons. Twitty made a direct hit and so did Tom. Beans threw one that narrowly missed. Then he scurried off, abandoning his post to take refuge behind Louis and Twitty. Louis hurled one more balloon at Corey and hit him again. Twitty had been busy putting up some posts for a big slingshot that could throw water balloons with more force and accuracy. Corey froze when he saw the fixture in place with Louis bringing the rubber back with a water balloon. Louis released, and wham! Another direct hit. Now Corey was VERY angry. "You little twerps!" he shouted.

Then Louis pulled out a trusty paintball gun and fired. Another hit. Louis' aim was impeccable that night. Four more shots fired and there were four more hits. Then Tom ran over to take over Louis' position at the slingshot. Louis took position where Tom was and took with him a sack full of paintballs and anything that he could find athis house that would fit and be able to be fired. He missed him a few times on this round, but there was several more direct hits that were beginning to take its toll on Corey. For someone that was unprepared and unaware of all that was awaiting him, he was still holding up. A water balloon came flying across the yard and nailed Corey right in the head, knocking him momentarily to the ground. Louis took off running again. He went back to the station where Twitty and Tom were. He threw down the paintball gun. Louis pulled out a remote control. When Corey returned to his feet Louis pushed the button. The station located across the street was Louis' catapalt that hurled a huge cottage cheese balloon at Corey, absolutely covering him. Fuming, Corey wiped the cottage cheese off his face and announced, "Fluffy Stevens! This is it! You will die tonight!"

Corey started to make his way towards Louis and Twitty and Tom. And out of hiding appeared a long potato gun that Louis had constructed. Corey stopped in his tracks and his eyes were bugged out. "Oh no," he mumbled.

Louis grinned when he saw that Corey was finally the one that was scared. "Corey, I gotta thank you for this, man. I've waited my whole life to say this: Say hello to my little friend!" Louis loaded a potato down the barrel of the potato gun. Corey, now very tired and weary, tried to turn around and make an escape. However, Beans, who maneuvered around quite a bit, ran and locked the front door on Corey so that he could not return to his house. Louis was still pointing the potato gun at him when Corey looked back. When he ran away, Louis tossed the gun on the ground and said, "Sucker." He then pulled out another remote control, pushed the magic button and a cage releasing dogs came out and chased after Corey. It was reminiscent of graduation, not even two months earlier. The hungry, ravenous dogs were running after a very scared and beaten down Corey Richmond. He ran down the street with about 12 dogs running after him. When he disappeared from sight Louis, Twitty and Tom all exchanged hi-fives, but the still-chubby Beans appeared from out of nowhere and they all surrounded him and gave him a great big hi-five as well. The mission was a complete success.

The guys were all congratulating each other when Tom asked Louis, "Say, where did you get those lights that we used?"

Louis grinned. "Oh, I got some extras that were at the football stadium. I mean, they're not the big ones they keep over the stands to light the field, but they're just some back-ups. They did the job tonight. Now, lets get outta here."

"Why?" Twitty asked.

"We've caused just a little bit of noise here tonight. You don't think somebody called the police on us?"

"Good point. But what about Tawny?"

"I told her to run and get outta here. She's gone for sure."

However, Tawny never left the house. She stood in front of a window in the house and watched the whole thing. She started to open the door to go see the guys and thank them for her rescue. But as she turned the knob, the guys could see some police cars coming from up the street, so they ran as fast as they could to the car and sped off. None of them even saw Tawny.

One police officer approached Tawny and began asking some questions. "Ma'am, did someone here call for the police?"

"Yes, sir, I did."

"What's the commotion?"

"Well, it was because of my boyfr-er, ex-boyfriend. He was going to hurt me, but he didn't."

"What's his name?"

"His name is Corey Richmond."

"Corey Richmond, huh? Ma'am, is this gentleman about six feet four inches tall, about 220 pounds, blonde hair, a few scattered freckles?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ma'am, I hate to inform you, but Mr. Richmond's real name is Austin Redeye. He's a con artist. We've got a warrant for his arrest in five states. How do you know him?"

"From high school."

"Are you aware that he's 24 years old, ma'am?"

"No sir."

"Where did you last see him?"

"He was covered in paint and cottage cheese and water and was being chased by a bunch of dogs, sir." The officer looked at Tawny as if to say, are you kidding me? "No really, sir. Some of my friends came through for me and got him away from me and really let him have it."

"I see," he said. "Ma'am, I don't believe we need any further information from you tonight. We'll go looking after him now. Certainly if this guy is covered in water, cottage cheese and paint and being chased by dogs, we couldn't possibly miss him. Would you like a ride home, ma'am?"

"Yes, please," Tawny answered. She sat in the squad car and they delivered her home. She went right to bed.


	28. Chapter 28

A/N: Well, we have finally reached the conclusion of my story. I apologize for the long gaps between updates. I started off really well but really tapered off in the past several months. I would like to thank everyone who has been reading this story. This has been a lot of fun for me. Thank you.

28.

Louis had no trouble making himself get to sleep that night. Having barely gotten any sleep the night before it would have been natural to just fall asleep when he reached his bed. But with the additional activities of the night, he hit his bed and was out like a rock. He was even sleeping in his army camouflage from the previous day. He slept from 9:00 that night until noon the next day. At that time he pulled himself out of bed. He took a shower and put on some clean clothes. Then he sat in his chair and thought. Now what? he wondered. He thought he should try and talk to Tawny. But then again, she had a pretty stressful night herself, probably more so than Louis had. When Louis was all clean and everything, he ran down the stairs and walked out the front door. He saw some flowers in his mom's garden and he pulled several of them out. But just as soon as he pulled out those flowers, he looked up to see Tawny. Louis was a little shocked to see her. "Hi," he said nervously.

Tawny smiled and said hi back. She was clean and rested herself. Her hair was curled that day and was weareing a red blouse and jean skirt. When she smiled, Louis could see the slight gap in his teeth on the left side of her mouth. He loved that for some reason. "How are you today?" he asked.

"I'm good."

Not sure what else to say, "So, uh, these are for you." Louis gave her the flowers, roots and all.

"Thanks," she said.

Louis tried to explain some things. "I was a big dork. Back all those months ago I could have asked you to the prom, but I didn't. And I was pretty stuck on myself and you almost had to take some serious consequences in the end. I just wanted to say that I was sorry."

Tawny was looking at the flowers Louis had just given her. "Thanks. It's OK. You really saved me last night. For awhile there I thought Corey was the one. Turns out he was a real crook."

"Oh," Louis began; then he thought about the "crook" line. "What!" he exclaimed. Tawny proceeded to explain to him all that happened and what the police told her last night. She didn't know it at the time, but Corey Richmond, aka Austin Redeye, would spend twenty years in jail for his activities. Turns out Tawny was not the only person he'd tried this with. She was just the only one that didn't have to suffer. "Oh," Louis said when he learned all this.

"But anyway, I always thought you were a goof. Corey seemed like he had a hold of his life and knew what he was going to do, just the opposite of you I guess. I mean, I used to get upset at you because you wouldn't take anything seriously, couldn't take responsibility or anything like that." Louis nodded slightly. "But last night I learned that when the situation calls for it, you can really come through." Now Louis smiled. "By the way, how did you know that was going to happen?"

"Um, a little birdie told me. It's a long story," Louis said, remembering what he overheard through a bathroom door.

Louis and Tawny looked into each other's eyes and shared a kiss.

"Say, I remember we said earlier this summer that we would hang out after you got back from your trip." Then she slyly asked. "Could we do that?"

Louis grinned. "I think we could," he said. "Would you like to go get some ice cream?"

Tawny smiled and said, "Yeah, I'd like that."

Louis and Tawny held each other's hand and they began to walk down the sidewalk. Then Louis' dad stepped out of the house holding up a credit card bill. "Louis!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. "You spend $550 on my credit card!"

Tawny smiled and covered it up with her hand. Louis' face was frozen. "Oops. Lets get outta here, Tawny," he said. He took her hand and went off running.

The End

A/N: Thank you and God bless you all. sola gratia


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